NASA will roll its Artemis 2 moon rocket out to the launch pad on Saturday (Jan. 17), and you can watch the slow-moving action live.
Artemis 2 will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, on a 10-day trip around the moon and back. It will be the first crewed mission to lunar realms since Apollo 17 way back in 1972.
After rollout is complete, NASA will conduct a number of checkouts with Artemis 2’s SLS and Orion. One of the most important tests is a wet dress rehearsal, during which teams will load the rocket with its cryogenic propellants and conduct a simulated launch countdown.
That milestone is currently planned for Feb. 2, and how it goes will help set the timeline for launch. And a smooth wet dress is far from guaranteed.
Wet dress rehearsals for the Artemis 1 mission, for example, revealed leaks of liquid hydrogen. NASA rolled the Artemis 1 stack back to the VAB multiple times to deal with the issue, which, among other factors, delayed the mission’s launch significantly.
Artemis 1 successfully sent an uncrewed Orion to lunar orbit and back. The mission lifted off on Nov. 16, 2022 and ended with Orion’s Pacific Ocean splashdown on Dec. 11 of that year.
NASA has not yet announced a target launch date for Artemis 2 and will not do so until the wet dress and other key checkouts are in the books.
There are three liftoff windows for the mission at the moment, which feature potential launch opportunities on Feb. 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11; March 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11; and April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively.
