La Lune sert d’arrière-plan au système de lancement spatial Artemis I (SLS) et au vaisseau spatial Orion sur la rampe de lancement 39B du Centre spatial Kennedy de la NASA, en Floride, le 21 mars 2022. Le SLS et Orion sur le lanceur mobile ont été transportés jusqu’à l’aire de lancement sur le transporteur à chenilles 2 pour un test préalable au lancement appelé répétition générale humide. Artemis I sera le premier essai intégré des vaisseaux spatiaux SLS et Orion. Lors de missions ultérieures, la NASA posera la première femme et la première personne de couleur sur la surface de la Lune, ouvrant ainsi la voie à une présence lunaire à long terme et servant de tremplin vers Mars. Crédit : NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Lors d’un examen pré-test le 28 mars, ;” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{” attribute=””>NASA gave the “go” to proceed with the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal scheduled for April 1-3. The approximately two-day test will run the Artemis I launch team through operations to load propellant into the rocket’s tanks, conduct a full launch countdown, demonstrate the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and also drain the tanks to give them an opportunity to practice the timelines and procedures they will use for launch.
During the rehearsal, controllers will countdown to T-1 minutes and 30 seconds and pause to demonstrate the ability to hold for up to 3 minutes, then resume until 33 seconds before when launch would occur, then pause the countdown. Then they will recycle back to ten minutes before launch and conduct a second terminal countdown to approximately 9.3 seconds before launch, then end the countdown. Sometimes called a “scrub,” launch controllers may decide not to proceed with launch if a technical or weather issue arises during or prior to the countdown. At the end of the test, the team will drain the propellant to demonstrate the procedures that would be used during a launch scrub. After draining the tanks, the team will review the test data before setting an official target launch date.
NASA will provide a live video stream of the rocket and spacecraft at the launch pad beginning at Noon EDT on April 1 on the Kennedy Newsroom YouTube channel. In addition to updates on this blog, NASA also will provide operational updates on the Exploration Ground Systems Twitter account.
