NASA could launch four astronauts on a mission to orbit the Moon as early as March 6.
That’s the launch date the space agency is working toward after a successful fueling test of its 98-meter-tall giant lunar rocket, which is positioned on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“This is really becoming a reality,” says Lori Glaze, interim associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “It’s time to get serious and start getting excited.”
But she warned that there is still work to be done on the launch pad, and officials will have to conduct a multi-day flight readiness review at the end of next week to ensure that all aspects of the mission are truly ready.
“We need to successfully overcome all these hurdles, but assuming that happens, we’ll be in a very good position to meet the March 6 target,” she said, noting that the flight readiness review will be “extensive and detailed”.
The Artemis II test flight will send four astronauts on a journey of approximately 965,000 kilometers around the Moon and back. It will be the first time people have ventured to the Moon since the last Apollo lunar mission in 1972.
When NASA employees tested the rocket fueling earlier this month, they encountered problems such as a liquid hydrogen leak. Replacing some seals and other work appear to have resolved those issues, according to officials who say the latest dress rehearsal countdown went off without a hitch, despite setbacks like the loss of communication with Launch Control Center, which forced employees to use backup systems temporarily.
The Artemis II crew members — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are beginning their approximately two-week quarantine to limit exposure to illnesses before the flight.
Glaze says she spoke with several of the astronauts during the recent fueling test, while they were in Florida to follow the preparations. “They’re all very, very excited,” she says. “There’s a lot of anticipation for a possible March launch.”
Source: npr.org