NASA’s Artemis II Rocket Is Making A Slow And Steady Trek Before Take Off
NASA is preparing to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time in decades. NASA, which is on track to launch the Artemis II mission as early as February, will spend the next month preparing to launch the Artemis II mission. First crewed mission to the Moon in half a century. The next phase is particularly thorny as the space agency struggles to deliver rockets to the field, one of the most overlooked aspects of space travel.
While it may seem like a relatively simple suggestion, this issue is a common one for spaceflight. Called a “go to action,” NASA scientists aim to begin moving the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from their location in the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026. The process, which could take up to 12 hours, will allow NASA’s crawler transporter 2 to carry the spacecraft for four miles. Since the pile weighs an incredible 11 million pounds, the carrier will need to move the load at approximately 1 mile per hour.
For NASA, this launch marks another important milestone in its journey back to the moon. On Artemis II, NASA will send four astronauts to fly around the moon and in ten days I returned. The mission, which follows the 2022 Artemis I mission, is expected to launch in April 2026 at the latest, paving the way for the upcoming Artemis III, the world’s first mission to the Moon’s South Pole.
Read more: What Happened to NASA’s Voyager 1 Probe?
Moving to the launch site
NASA’s massive crawler carrier 2 is located in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. -NASA
Measuring 322 feet long and weighing 5.74 million pounds when fueled, the Space Launch System is a technical achievement as impressive as its staggering size; It is the only mechanism capable of launching NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Artemis’ crew and cargo. Equipped with four L3Harris Technologies RS-25 liquid propellant engines and two Northrop Grumman five-section solid rocket boosters, the SLS is capable of producing 8.27 million pounds of thrust at launch. No wonder the move took so long.
Luckily, NASA’s crawler transporter 2 is up for the job. The world’s heaviest autonomous vehicle, the CT-2 is the size of a baseball field and weighs 6.6 million pounds, the equivalent of roughly 1,000 pickup trucks. It is capable of carrying up to 18 million pounds at a time; This is roughly the equivalent of 20 Boeing 777s. Incredibly, the scanner is the same one NASA used 50 years ago and has traveled 2,335 miles during its time in service. Of course, it has been upgraded over the years, getting an upgraded control room, new generators, improved brakes, all its gears renewed, and a shiny new paint job.
Those who want to watch Orion and SLS move at a snail’s pace towards the launch pad will be able to do so on the agency’s website. YouTube channel. The launch, scheduled for January 17 at 7 a.m. EST, will be accompanied by a press conference and media event. According to NASA, rollout times may vary due to potential technical issues or weather delays.
on a mission
Four astronauts selected for the Artemis II moon mission pose in bright orange and blue NASA spacesuits. -NASA
Once the rocket reaches the launch pad, NASA will begin a series of pre-launch preparations and tests. NASA’s checklist will include connecting critical equipment such as power lines and cryogenic fuel feeds. It will also see NASA strengthening the rocket’s integrated systems to verify the operation of critical flight hardware, particularly in relation to the mission’s ground infrastructure systems and mobile launcher. NASA will then conduct a joint pre-launch test of the rocket’s fueling operations, called a wet dress rehearsal. During this process, scientists will load and unload the rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant. This is particularly poignant because of the difficulties NASA experienced during the Artemis I mission. The wet dress rehearsal is also an opportunity to practice launch countdown procedures. However, if these procedures reveal any major technical flaws, NASA will need to return SLS and Orion to the Vehicle Assembly building for maintenance.
The Artemis II mission will set off after these challenging test rounds are completed. To date, NASA estimates the mission’s launch window to be between February 6 and April 6, 2026. The flight, the first crewed mission of the Artemis program, will demonstrate the feasibility of using Orion for long-duration missions and allow astronauts to test critical procedures and functions for NASA’s upcoming Moon landing mission, Artemis III. During its 10-day mission, Orion will pass about 4,700 miles past the far side of the Moon (about a quarter of a million miles from Earth).
According to NASA, Artemis III is currently scheduled to launch in 2028: Four-passenger, 30-day trek to the South Pole of the MoonWhere astronauts will conduct new research, including several moonwalks. But the timeline surrounding Artemis III remains fluid, with delays already occurring as early as last year.
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