The pre-existing liquid hydrogen tank at Kennedy Space Center, which holds roughly 50% less LH2 than the planned storage tank.
Preparations for the crewed Artemis 2 trip to the Moon are in full swing, with NASA rolling-out various fixes, upgrades, and new technologies to support the mission, which could happen as soon as 2024. Among the more exciting developments are a gigantic new hydrogen fuel tank and an updated escape system that harkens back to the Space Shuttle era.
Artemis 2, the sequel to the recently concluded Artemis 1 mission, is launching no earlier than late 2024, but NASA, in an effort to maintain this timeline, is already in go mode. A key difference between the two missions is that astronauts will take part in Artemis 2, requiring some important add-ons and adjustments that weren’t needed for the uncrewed Artemis 1. To that end, teams with Exploration Ground Systems have been hard at work at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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A big frustration of Artemis 1 was getting NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket off the ground for the very first time. Ongoing technical problems and pesky hydrogen leaks required NASA to perform multiple launch attempts, with the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) megarocket finally taking flight on November 16, 2022, on the third attempt. And that doesn’t include the four wet dress rehearsals (or five, should we choose to include the cryogenic tanking test done on September 21). As a further complication, mission planners had to squeeze the launch attempts within a flight schedule dictated by celestial happenings, namely the position of Earth relative to the Moon and Sun.
Easy access to liquid hydrogen—the propellant that powers SLS’s four-engine core stage and single-engine Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS)—would make it considerably easier for the Exploration Ground Systems team to perform back-to-back launch attempts in the likely event of scrubs. I say likely because liquid hydrogen, or LH2, is notoriously difficult to contain.
The new 1.4-million-gallon liquid hydrogen tank, located within Launch Complex 39B, will serve to reduce the time between multiple launch attempts, NASA explained in a statement. Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems, told reporters late last year that the new hydrogen sphere “will allow us to get more back-to-back launch attempts, which is a huge capability when we’ve got smaller [launch] windows.” Once in operation, it’ll be the largest liquid hydrogen tank in the world, according to the Cryogenic Society of America.
The Exploration Ground Systems program currently has an existing liquid hydrogen tank at launch pad 39B that can hold 850,000 gallons. This tank was constructed during the Apollo missions and was used during the Shuttle era. For Artemis 2 and beyond, “both liquid hydrogen tanks will be in use,” a NASA spokesperson confirmed to Gizmodo today.
The new liquid hydrogen tank will have a capacity of 1.4 million gallons, but with a usable space closer to 1.25 million gallons, the spokesperson clarified. The SLS core stage and ICPS require more than 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen. Filled with 1.25 million gallons of the super-chilled stuff, the new tank will store more than twice the amount of liquid hydrogen required for a single launch, and with some important room to spare, given that a portion boils off on the launch pad. Combined, the two hydrogen tanks will provide a liquid hydrogen storage capacity of 2.1 million gallons. Construction of the new tank began in 2018.
When preparing for an SLS launch, ground teams flow liquid hydrogen from a storage tank to the base of the Mobile Launcher using transfer lines. From there, the service mast umbilical transfers the propellant into the core stage and ICPS tanks. Once the new tank is complete, ground teams will conduct validations tests to “make sure we’re getting the right pressures, flow rates, no issues with manifolding, and things along those lines,” Parsons said.
An emergency egress system terminus area is also under construction at Launch Complex 39B. In the event of an emergency during launch countdown, astronauts can use this system to safely exit the launch pad area. The system, which wasn’t needed for Artemis 1, will be similar to the one used during the Shuttle program, in which astronauts sat in baskets held by cables. It’s kinda like zip lining, but without the fun.
File photo from 2006 showing Space Shuttle astronauts practicing an emergency escape with the egress system on Launch Pad 39B.
The upgraded system “will enable astronauts to exit Orion at the Crew Access Arm white room through the mobile launcher tower down to the emergency transportation vehicles on the ground and onward to a safe haven,” according to NASA. The new emergency egress system will feature a larger capacity and various upgrades to meet the demands of Artemis 2 and the upcoming Block 1B SLS rocket required for Artemis 4 and future Moon missions.
For Crawler Transporter 2, teams plan to replace the individual shoes, or tread plates, on its two large tracks, in addition to adding new steering cylinders and doing corrosion control work. Ground teams are also in the midst of repairing damage incurred by the Mobile Launcher during the inaugural launch of SLS. This includes busted pipes, fried cameras, and blast doors on the tower’s elevator that got, uh, blasted.
Preparations are also underway for the Artemis 2 Orion crew module, which will actually hold a crew during Artemis 2. Similar to Artemis 1, Orion will venture past the Moon and return home to Earth without any activities planned on the lunar surface. That feat—the first Moonwalk since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972—won’t happen until Artemis 3, currently slated for launch in either 2025 or 2026.
The Artemis 2 Orion capsule will feature hardware not included in Artemis 1, “including normal and emergency communication components, display units, hand controllers, full fidelity side and docking hatches, environmental control and life support subsystems for nitrogen, oxygen, water, and air, as well as waste management, and fire detection and suppression,” according to the space agency. Orion’s heat shield will be added before summertime. As for the rocket’s critically important launch abort system, it’s 90% complete in terms of assembly, integration, and testing.
It seems a bit early to be talking about Artemis 2, but late 2024 isn’t that far off, especially as far as NASA timelines are concerned. The space agency isn’t known for hitting deadlines, so this is all very necessary stuff. NASA also benefited from the tremendous success of Artemis 1, allowing it to set its sights firmly on the next mission.
More: 7 Things We Learned From NASA’s Wildly Successful Artemis 1 Mission
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The SLS rocket taking off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: NASA
NASA has conducted a preliminary review of the inaugural Space Launch System launch, saying the rocket met and even exceeded all expectations.
On Wednesday, NASA released its initial analysis of SLS’ performance as it lifted off on November 16, sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the Moon for the space agency’s Artemis 1 mission. “The first launch of the Space Launch System rocket was simply eye-watering,” Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, said in a statement. “While our mission with Orion is still underway and we continue to learn over the course of our flight, the rocket’s systems performed as designed and as expected in every case.”
NASA’s 5.75-million-pound rocket took off from Launch Pad 39B at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 1:47 a.m. ET on November 16. The space agency released a stunning supercut of the launch (see the video below), which includes dramatic POVs from the rocket as it soared into the dark Florida skies.
Rocket Camera Footage from the World’s Most Powerful Rocket
As it fired up its engines, the rocket’s booster motors produced more than 7 million pounds (3.1 million kilograms) of thrust at liftoff. The rocket and its accompanying spacecraft traveled at a speed of more than 4,000 miles per hour (8,000 kilometers per hour) in just two minutes before the booster separated from the rocket. The rocket’s core stage and four RS-25 engines burned through the stage’s 735,000 gallons of propellants in just over eight minutes, NASA reported.
SLS delivered the Orion capsule within about 3 miles (6 kilometers) of its planned orbital altitude and at speeds reaching 17,500 miles per hour (28,160 kilometers per hour), according to NASA. That’s when the rocket’s upper stage performed two burns to first raise Orion’s orbit and then propel it toward the Moon. Afterwards, the upper stage’s single RL-10 engine fired for more than 18 minutes—setting a single duration burn record—to send Orion on its journey to the Moon. “Performance was off by less than 0.3 percent in all cases across the board,” Sarafin said in the statement.
Engineers will continue to study SLS’ performance during the Artemis 1 launch over the next several months as NASA prepares to build the next rocket for the launch of Artemis 2 (currently scheduled for 2024). “With this amazing Moon rocket, we’ve laid the foundation for Artemis and for our long-term presence at the Moon,” John Honeycutt, SLS program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said in the statement. The performance of the rocket and the team supporting its maiden voyage was simply outstanding.”
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SLS’ journey to liftoff was bumpy, with the rocket enduring several delays and two scrubbed launch attempts. The first scrub was due to a faulty sensor, while the second scrub was the result of an unmanageable hydrogen leak.
More: Watch NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Attempt to Break Free From Lunar Orbit
Scorching and other minor damage at Launch Pad 39B.Screenshot: NASA TV
A scorched platform, fried cameras, broken pipes, and a busted elevator are among the casualties of last week’s launch of NASA’s SLS rocket. Mobile Launcher 1 and Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center will require repairs, but NASA says they’ll be ready for the next Artemis mission.
Space Launch System, or SLS, blasted off during the early hours of Wednesday, November 16, sending the Orion capsule on a 25.5-day journey to the Moon and back. It was a picture-perfect launch, and NASA has said as much. Preliminary data from the Artemis 1 flight indicates that SLS performed as well as or even exceeded expectations, Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager, told reporters yesterday.
SLS’s performance deviations were less than 0.3% across the board, and the rocket missed NASA’s target orbital insertion by just 3 nautical miles, according to Sarafin. He reminded reporters that SLS exerted 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, and the fact that SLS deviated by 7 feet each second is still “remarkable” in terms of precision. “The results were eye-watering,” he added.
The tower’s elevator doors were blasted clean off. Screenshot: NASA TV
Photojournalists at Kennedy Space Center have been told to not take photos of Launch Complex 39B for security reasons (i.e., ITAR restrictions; NASA says photos of the now-exposed umbilical plates would represent a security violation), and possibly because NASA doesn’t want to promote the fact that its launch tower was damaged.
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During a press briefing on Friday, Sarafin admitted that the mobile launch tower did incur some damage as a result of the launch, which produced temperatures in excess of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. “We expected to find damage at the pad, and we are finding damage at the pad,” Sarafin said.
Pad camera aflame as SLS blasted off. Screenshot: NASA TV
At a press briefing held yesterday, the mission management team offered further details and some visuals that detailed the scope of the damage. In addition to new scorch marks on the tower and missing paint on its deck, a number of pad cameras got burned, and some nitrogen and helium supply lines incurred minor damage. Sarafin said blast doors on the tower’s elevators were torn away by the rocket’s shock wave, so “right now the elevators are inoperable and we need to get those back into service.” All said, the damage “that we did see pertains to really, just a couple of areas,” he said, adding that SLS is largely a “very clean system.”
At the same time, the deluge system “did a great job” and the tail mast service umbilicals were “clean inside,” Sarafin explained. He added that repairs are required, but he’s confident everything will be ready for the crewed Artemis 2 mission in 2024. That might seem like plenty of time, but stacking operations for the sequel mission will likely need to start next year.
The mission management team seemed largely unfazed, and it’s entirely possible that the damage is indeed minimal or at least manageable. It might also be true that NASA is doing its best to downplay any damage induced by its new pride-and-joy. Opinions posted to Twitter varied, with some saying the damage is much worse than NASA is willing to admit, with others saying the damage isn’t a big deal and it’s all part of the engineering process. Indeed, surprises should be expected when launching the world’s most powerful rocket, but if the damage is worse than NASA is leading us to believe, then they should admit it.
Back at the lunar ranch, the uncrewed Orion capsule continues to do its thing. The spacecraft performed a close flyby of the Moon yesterday as it steadily works its way into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. Orion will conclude its 25.5-day mission on December 11, when it attempts an atmospheric reentry at Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Artemis 1 is the first of what NASA hopes will be a series of missions to establish a permanent human presence in the lunar environment.
More: What’s Next for the Orion Spacecraft as It Cruises Toward the Moon
NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket lifts off with 8.8 million pounds of thrust from two powerful solid rocket boosters and four core stage engines. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
NASA’s huge Space Launch System moon rocket finally took off from Florida early Wednesday after a decade in development, sending an unpiloted Orion crew capsule toward lunar orbit on a 25-day test flight to lay a path for astronauts to return to the moon for the first time since 1972.
The launch from Kennedy Space Center marked the first major test flight for NASA’s Artemis program, a U.S.-led international effort to explore the moon with landers, rovers, orbiters, and a mini-space station that will serve as a staging base for lunar expeditions.
“I have to say, for what we saw tonight, it’s an A-plus,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a press conference after liftoff of the first SLS moon rocket. “It’s a test flight. It took a long time coming to get here. The last time we were on the moon was Apollo 17.”
Humans have not walked on the lunar surface since Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt departed the moon on the Apollo 17 mission, 50 years ago next month. NASA canceled the final Apollo moon missions, then focused on developing a reusable spacecraft that became the space shuttle. The agency’s human spaceflight program has been centered on the International Space Station, which flies in low Earth orbit, for the last two decades.
But NASA is setting up for humanity’s return to the moon, using the powerful Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and an array of commercial partnerships and international agreements to supply landing craft, pressurized habitats, and elements for an outpost in lunar orbit called the Gateway.
The Artemis 1 mission that launched Wednesday is an end-to-end test of the SLS moon rocket and Orion capsule, which took off on a five-day outbound journey to the moon. Next week, the Orion spacecraft will swing into orbit around the moon for tests and checkouts, then return to Earth for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11.
“We still have a long ways to go,” Nelson said. “This is just the test flight, and we are stressing it and testing it in ways that we will not do to a rocket that has a human crew on it. But that’s the purpose, to make it as safe as possible, as reliable as possible, for when our astronauts crawl on-board and go back to the moon.”
The launch phase of the Artemis 1 moon mission appeared to go off without a hitch, with a thundering blastoff from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39B at 1:47:44 a.m. EST (0647:44 GMT).
The middle-of-the-night launch followed years of delays and cost overruns. The rocket’s most recent delays were caused by technical problems discovered during practice countdowns and launch attempts earlier this year. NASA engineers detected a significant hydrogen leak during a Sept. 3 launch attempt, then the mission suffered more schedule slips due to Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole.
With good weather expected Wednesday morning, NASA loaded the SLS moon rocket with cryogenic propellants and counted down to a two-hour launch window. But another hydrogen leak signature required technicians to drive back to the launch pad late Tuesday night — with the rocket nearly full of flammable fuel — and tighten bolts to allow the countdown to proceed.
NASA launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson polled her team inside a firing room at Kennedy Space Center. After hearing a unanimous “go” for launch, she authorized the countdown clock to resume from a hold to tick down the final 10 minutes until liftoff.
The 322-foot-tall (98-meter) SLS moon rocket roared to life with ignition of four hydrogen-fueled RS-25 engines and two cylindrical solid rocket boosters — leftovers from the space shuttle program — mounted to each side of the voluminous orange core stage.
NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket takes off from Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
NASA kept the shuttle-era main engines in storage for nearly a decade, fitted them with new computers, and certified the liquid-fueled powerplants to fire at higher throttle settings for the SLS moon rocket. The solid-fueled motors were lengthened — with five segments instead of the four sections on the shuttle — to provide an extra boost.
The SLS rocket generated 8.8 million pounds of thrust at full power, more than NASA’s Saturn 5 moon rocket designed in the 1960s for the Apollo program. Only the Soviet Union’s N1 moon rocket, which failed on all four of its test flights from 1969 through 1972, produced more power at liftoff.
Now, for the first time since the Cold War-era U.S.-Soviet Space Race, there are two mega-rockets soon ready to enter service with NASA’s Space Launch System and SpaceX’s privately-developed Super Heavy and Starship launcher. The Super Heavy booster, designed for recovery and reuse, will generate nearly double the thrust of NASA’s SLS moon rocket with all of its 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines firing.
SpaceX is preparing for the first Super Heavy/Starship test launch from Texas into a low-altitude Earth orbit in the coming months, but the company has not set a firm schedule for the flight.
NASA’s SLS moon rocket is is a single-use design. That makes it significantly more expensive than SpaceX’s Starship, but the SLS design allows it to carry crew and cargo to the vicinity of the moon in a single shot. The Starship requires in-orbit refueling to reach the moon.
For Wednesday’s dazzling debut launch, Artemis 1 rocket veered east from Kennedy Space Center over the Atlantic Ocean. The two Northrop Grumman-built solid rocket boosters burned out and jettisoned about two minutes into the flight to call into the sea.
The rocket’s Boeing-made core stage continued burning its four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines, combining to put out 2 million pounds of thrust on their own, for eight minutes. The engines chugged more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants from the 27.6-foot-wide (8.4-meter) core stage tanks.
The main engines accelerated the rocket to near orbital velocity, then the core stage separated from upper part of the Space Launch System, an element produced by United Launch Alliance. The ULA-built piece of the rocket — called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and based on a design for the Delta 4-Heavy rocket — fired its RL10 engine two times, initially to place the Orion spacecraft into a stable low Earth orbit, then to send the capsule toward the moon.
The final engine burn of the launch sequence, called the Trans-Lunar Injection, or TLI, accelerated the vehicle to a speed relative to Earth of more than 22,500 mph (36,300 kilometers per hour) and put the Orion spacecraft on a course to reach the moon Monday, Nov. 21.
More than 500 RL10 engines have flown on Atlas, Delta, and Titan rockets since 1963, but the RL10’s trans-lunar injection burn on the Artemis 1 launch was the longest-ever firing in space by the venerable engine type.
Miss this morning’s Artemis 1 launch? Here’s a replay of our live coverage of the first two minutes of the flight.
Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center occurred at 1:47:44am EST (0647:44 GMT).https://t.co/KKlPNQabsH pic.twitter.com/GpjiW6z1tn
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 16, 2022
The Orion capsule separated from the Space Launch System’s upper stage nearly two hours into the mission. At that point, without its no-longer-needed launch abort tower and aeroshell, the moon-bound spaceship had a mass of roughly 57,000 pounds (about 26 metric tons), around 1% of the 5.75-million pound total weight of the SLS moon rocket at liftoff.
Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission manager, said the moon rocket delivered the Orion spacecraft on a “dead-on” trajectory. “We’ve bought down a lot of risk today, but we’ve got a lot mission ahead of us,” Sarafin said.
If the Orion spacecraft has similar success on its round-trip flight to the moon and back, NASA aims to fly a crew of four astronauts around the moon in the second half of 2024 on the next Artemis mission.
That would be followed later this decade by a human landing near the moon’s south pole, and if NASA plans for the Artemis program come to fruition, a series of crewed and robotic lunar science missions that would open a new era in space exploration. NASA’s long-term goal is to land humans on Mars, but the moon missions will come first.
Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology. One of the Artemis program’s chief objectives is to land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.
The first Artemis test flight will validate the function NASA’s Orion spacecraft as it travels more than 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon before blazing back through Earth’s atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph.
About eight hours after launch, the Orion spacecraft lit its main engine for the first time. The brief test-firing verified the engine, another leftover from the space shuttle program, was ready for a sequence of critical burns later in the Artemis 1 mission.
The Orion service module was funded by the European Space Agency and built by Airbus, with 33 engines and thrusters to control Orion’s orientation and adjust its course after launch. The service module’s main engine is a U.S. component — a refurbished space shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System engine that flew on 19 missions from 1984 through 2002.
The Orion capsule is on a course to swing about 80 miles (130 kilometers) over the lunar surface with its maneuvering engine firing Nov. 21. The outbound flyby five days after launch will guide the Orion spacecraft into a distant retrograde orbit with an average distance of more than 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the moon. At that distance from Earth, the spacecraft will be flying outside the magnetic field that shields the planet from solar and cosmic radiation.
Artemis 1 also carries a range of secondary payloads, including deployable subsatellites, or CubeSats, to pursue scientific and technology demonstration missions. There are experiments and payloads inside the Orion spacecraft, too. Three mannequins strapped into the crew module’s seats will help scientists gather data and test the performance of a new astronaut spacesuit and a vest to protect the human body against radiation.
Orion separation confirmed. The human-rated crew capsule is on the way to the moon after a seemingly picture-perfect launch on the maiden flight of NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket. https://t.co/KKlPNQabsH pic.twitter.com/PVDtrsbzmK
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 16, 2022
Mission controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are overseeing the Artemis 1 flight from launch though splashdown. They will exercise the Orion capsule’s guidance and navigation, propulsion and cooling systems, computers, software, and communications equipment. Some elements of Orion’s life support system, and its cockpit crew displays, are not on the Artemis 1 flight.
After a half-lap around the moon, the Orion spacecraft will aim for another close flyby of the moon to steer onto a path back to Earth.
The capsule will plunge into the atmosphere Dec. 11 using a “skip re-entry” technique to bleed off speed. The re-entry velocity is about 30 percent faster than a spacecraft returning from a mission to the International Space Station. The 25-day mission duration will exceed the 21-day design life of an Orion spacecraft on standalone mission. The Orion spacecraft can spend up to six months in space when docked to a space station.
Despite the abundant use of flight-proven hardware on the SLS moon rocket and Orion spacecraft, and extensive ground testing over the last decade, there were still unknowns going into the Artemis 1 mission. NASA assessed there is a 1-in-125 probability that the Orion spacecraft could be lost on the Artemis 1 mission. That’s more risk than the agency would accept on a mission with humans on-board.
On the Artemis 2 mission, the Space Launch System will initially place the Orion crew capsule into orbit around Earth, where the astronauts will perform checkouts, test out the ship’s rendezvous and docking systems, and then fire Orion’s service module engine to fly to the moon a quarter-million miles away.
The Artemis 2 mission will follow a “hybrid free return trajectory” around the moon. The Orion crew capsule won’t enter orbit around the moon, but still instead loop around the far side and return directly to Earth for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The Orion spacecraft will arc out to a distance of 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, farther than any humans have ever traveled into space.
The Artemis 2 mission will last around 10 days, paving the way for future landing expeditions and longer-duration flights to the Gateway, a mini-space staton NASA plans to construct in orbit around the moon.
The Artemis program’s first attempt to land a crew on the moon is penciled in for the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for no earlier than 2025, with a derivative of the Starship vehicle SpaceX’s is developing in South Texas. The Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts from Earth with dock with the Starship lander near the moon to ferry the crew to the lunar south pole. The Starship will ascend back into space from the moon to link up with Orion to bring the astronauts back to Earth.
The Artemis 1 mission profile will carry the Orion spacecraft into a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, flying at an average 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the lunar surface. The Orion spacecraft will return to Earth for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at the end of the mission. Credit: NASA
Future Artemis missions will utilize more commercially-developed lunar landing craft to deliver astronauts to the moon’s surface. NASA plans to debut a more powerful upper stage for the SLS moon rocket on the Artemis 4 mission, enabling assembly of the Gateway station in lunar orbit and hauling heavier cargo to the moon.
But Artemis 1 has to complete its mission before NASA can move forward with Artemis 2.
“The heat shield, the stressing of the system, the delivery and performance of SLS, and recovery of the vehicle are all critical things we need to do before we can talk about going to Artemis 2,” said Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator for exploration systems development, the NASA division that manages the Artemis program. “If we don’t get all of those, we’ll have a discussion about the risk that remains before we would put crew onto Artemis 2.”
Suppliers and workers in all 50 U.S. states and 10 European countries contribute to the Artemis program, which has its roots in a revamp of NASA’s human space exploration plans at the beginning of the Obama administration. The Obama White House in 2010 canceled the behind-schedule Constellation moon program, which started development of the Orion spacecraft with a different launch system than the SLS.
While President Obama ordered NASA to focus on developing commercial human-rated capsules to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station — resulting in the commercial crew program with SpaceX and Boeing as contractors — Congress directed the Obama administration and NASA to accelerate work on a huge government-managed rocket program called the Space Launch System.
The Obama administration proposed NASA use the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for a crew mission to an asteroid, proving technology for an eventual human flight to Mars. Under President Trump, the effort was re-targeted for the moon and renamed the Artemis program — the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology — with a goal of landing astronauts at the lunar south pole by the end of 2024.
NASA has given up on the 2024 deadline, and the 2025 timetable for the human moon landing is in doubt. But President Biden has kept the Artemis program alive, and NASA last year selected SpaceX to build the first human-rated moon lander in more than 50 years.
The Artemis program’s ultimate objective, according to NASA, remains to test technology and practice for eventual human expeditions to Mars.
But the Artemis missions come with a hefty price tag, and the SLS moon rocket’s first flight Wednesday occurred five years later than NASA officials originally predicted.
NASA’s inspector general reported each of the first four Artemis missions will cost $4.1 billion apiece. None of the SLS moon rocket is reused, despite engines and boosters originally designed for multiple launches. NASA and Lockheed Martin eventually plan to refurbish and reuse Orion crew modules.
The agency watchdog also projected NASA will have spent $93 billion on the Artemis moon program by the end of 2025, including expenses for the SLS moon rocket, Orion spacecraft, ground systems, a human-rated moon lander, and the Gateway station.
One of the three mannequins on the Artemis 1 mission, dubbed ‘Moonikin Campos,’ is shown inside he Orion crew module in this Aug. 3 photo. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
So far, NASA has spent more than $48 billion to develop the Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft, and prepare ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center for the new-generation moon program.
NASA committed $14.2 billion to develop the Orion spacecraft from 2012 through the end of the last fiscal year Sept. 30, plus an additional $6.3 billion committed to the program in the prior decade under the Constellation program.
NASA budgeted $22.4 billion for the SLS program from 2012 through the end of fiscal year 2022. Another $5.4 billion in the same period went toward readying Kennedy Space Center’s ground infrastructure for SLS and Orion missions.
Enlarge / NASA’s rocket has been rolled out to the launch pad in Florida four times now this year.
Trevor Mahlmann
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.—After writing about NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for a dozen years—certainly well into the hundreds of thousands of words—I’ve run out of things to say about the big, orange booster.
Well, almost. What I would like to say is that it is time, beyond time really, for this mission to fly.
As NASA has sought to build public interest in the Artemis program and spur momentum for the Artemis I launch of an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back, the space agency has increasingly used the slogan, “We are going.”
The response from much of the space community to this can be succinctly stated: “We are ready for you to go.”
As one looks ahead to tonight’s launch attempt, with a two-hour window opening at 1:04 am ET (06:04 UTC), it is worth looking back at what has come before to understand why this moment is so overdue.
The Space Launch System rocket was created in 2010 by just two US senators—a Democrat from Florida, Bill Nelson, and a Republican from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison. Hutchison retired in 2013, and Nelson lost reelection in 2019, so the rocket’s long and costly development program has outlived both of their political careers.
The SLS rocket was a political compromise, keeping major defense contractors who previously had a piece of the space shuttle program on NASA’s budget and preserving space agency jobs in Florida, Texas, and Alabama. It worked so very well at that.
Unfortunately, politically constructed rockets are not the most efficient spaceflight vehicles, so it has been a long road, filled with potholes, to reach the launch pad.
2010
When Nelson and Hutchison first conceived of this rocket design in 2010, working closely with Boeing and other major contractors, hopes were high. The rocket would use space shuttle main engines and a slightly modified version of its solid rocket boosters. The main propellant tank would have the same diameter as the shuttle’s external tanks. This would greatly ease the development path, the senators explained.
That summer, they negotiated with key figures in the US House, such as the chairman of the Science Committee, Bart Gordon of Tennessee. Nelson promised the rocket would be ready by 2015 at a cost of $11.5 billion. Gordon knew better. “He doesn’t think we can do a heavy-lift rocket for $11.5 billion,” Nelson said of Gordon at the time. “If we can’t do a rocket for $11.5 billion, we ought to close up shop.”
Eventually, Nelson and Hutchison would get their legislation in the form of a NASA Authorization bill. By that fall, the schedule had already slipped a little. When the legislation creating the rocket was signed into law in October 2010, the Space Launch System was intended to be operational no later than December 2016. It was the law of the land.
2014
Four years later, NASA reached its first milestone in developing a large rocket and the Orion spacecraft that would eventually become key elements of the Artemis program. This was Exploration Flight Test-1, in which Orion would be launched on a commercial rocket to, essentially, test out its heat shield during a high-energy return from an altitude of 5,800 km.
At the time of this test on December 5, 2014, NASA officials were expectant. Within just three years, they promised the public, Orion would be back on the launch pad, this time sitting atop the Space Launch System rocket. Yes, the first launch of the Space Launch System had slipped a little, but it was only a year.
Well, that was eight years ago. The only real takeaway from Exploration Flight Test-1 is that there are commercially available rockets—the mission flew on United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket—that can boost Orion into deep space.
2016
Two years later, NASA continued to demonstrate progress. That spring, the space agency began test-firing the main engines left over from the space shuttle program.
The first of these engines, number 2059, fired for 500 seconds on a test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. It had not been used since 2011 when it powered space shuttle Endeavour on what was the penultimate flight of the space shuttle program. Later that year, during a visit to the Michoud Assembly Facility, I was able to see some flight hardware NASA was building for the first launch of the SLS vehicle. Maybe, I thought, we were going.
At the time, there was still hope for a launch in 2018.
Enlarge / This photo shows the two side-mounted boosters of this week’s Falcon Heavy launch landing in Florida.
Trevor Mahlmann
Welcome to Edition 5.16 of the Rocket Report! If you’re counting, there are now fewer than 60 days until the end of 2022. How many more US rockets will make their debut before the end of the year? SLS? Terran 1? Super Heavy? RS1? None of the above? You didn’t ask, but my over/under would be 1.5 of the above, and that may be a tad optimistic.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Rocket Lab to attempt booster recovery again. The US-based rocket company says it will make a second mid-air recovery attempt of an Electron booster during the Friday launch of a Swedish scientific satellite, Space News reports. This “Catch Me If You Can” mission is scheduled to launch November 4 at 1:15 pm ET (17:15 UTC) from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The launch will be Rocket Lab’s second attempt to recover the Electron’s first stage, descending under a parachute, using a helicopter.
Happy hunting! … In the first attempt May 2, a hook hanging from the helicopter grabbed the parachute, but the pilot released it moments later after noticing what the company called “different load characteristics than what we’ve experienced in testing.” The stage instead splashed down and was recovered by a boat. “Our first helicopter catch only a few months ago proved we can do what we set out to do with Electron, and we’re eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability even further by bringing back a dry stage for the first time,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a statement about the upcoming launch. (submitted by Ken the Bin and Tfargo04)
Firefly seeking additional capital. Fresh off of putting its first Alpha rocket into orbit, Firefly Aerospace is seeking to raise as much as $300 million in a private fundraising round, Reuters reports. The Texas-based company was valued at more than $1 billion when private equity firm AE Industrial Partners became its controlling shareholder in March, but it has not set a valuation for this round.
How much money is out there? … The new funding would be used to help complete construction of manufacturing facilities for Firefly’s Alpha rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and accelerate development of a medium-lift rocket the company plans to build with Northrop Grumman. Given the challenges of raising new capital for space-based companies in the current environment, it will be interesting to see how much Firefly can tap into. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
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Residents fight back against Canadian engine tests. Trent Hills, a municipality in Ontario about halfway between Toronto and Ottawa, has asked the Canadian launch company SpaceRyde to cease rocket engine testing. “Trent Hills has been in receipt of many inquiries, concerns and complaints pertaining to rocket engine testing taking place in the rural area at a site on County Road 29,” Trent Hills Now reported. On October 7, the local government asked SpaceRyde to voluntarily cease testing.
Maybe they can work it out? … The company has until later this month to respond. Some local residents want nothing to do with SpaceRyde, which is aiming to develop a rocket to be launched from a balloon. The municipality, however, said it would be willing to work with the rocket company: “If there remains a desire to continue the use, the Municipality has a range of options both to engage with the site owner and occupier and to address the public’s concerns.” (submitted by JC)
NASA built a new mega-rocket for the next lunar astronaut era, and it’s about to launch for the first time as soon as Tuesday.
The Space Launch System (SLS) is 17 years and an estimated $50 billion in the making. It’s designed to fly astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, when astronauts conducted the last moonwalk of the Apollo era.
The Space Launch System (SLS) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17, 2022.
NASA/Kim Shiflett
Now NASA is kicking off a new program, called Artemis, to build a space station orbiting the moon and set up a permanent human presence on the surface of the lunar south pole. Eventually, the agency wants to mine resources there to send astronauts to Mars.
This first mission, called Artemis I, is a test flight that will carry no astronauts. The rocket is set to scream through the Florida skies and push its Orion spaceship into a path around the moon and back. If that goes well, NASA aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface again in 2025.
NASA needs a powerful rocket to carry out such a long-distance mission. The current iteration of SLS, called Block 1, stands taller than the Statue of Liberty at 322 feet, about 30 stories.
To understand just how large that is, and just how much power it takes to fly to the moon, let’s compare it to other astronaut-flying rockets.
SLS is huge, but it’s small for a moon rocket
Let’s start small. The rocket that carried Jeff Bezos to the edge of space in July 2021, called New Shepard, stands about as tall as a five-story building. It doesn’t pack big enough engines, or large enough quantities of fuel, to push itself into Earth’s orbit.
Blue Origin
Instead, New Shepard skims the edge of the atmosphere in the three minutes between when it stops climbing and when it starts falling. Then it descends back to Earth, for a total flight time of 11 minutes. That’s why it’s called a suborbital rocket.
Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard suborbital rocket launches toward space in 2016.
Blue Origin
Then there are orbital rockets, like Russia’s Soyuz and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which generate enough thrust to push spaceships full of humans and cargo into orbit around the Earth, where they can dock at the International Space Station.
A Soyuz rocket arrive at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, September 28, 2009.
NASA/Bill Ingalls
Clocking in anywhere from 150 to 250 feet, these workhorses are probably what you’re picturing when you think of a standard rocket.
People look up at a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, October 7, 2012.
NASA
Lunar rockets like the Saturn V, which powered the Artemis program, are about another 100 feet taller. They need the extra thrust to push their spaceships past Earth’s orbit toward the moon.
A Saturn V rocket launches an Apollo mission toward space.
NASA
SLS has white rocket boosters installed on the sides of its core stage, which burn solid fuel for extra firepower.
SLS in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 20, 2021.
NASA/Frank Michaux
Right now, SLS is smaller than its past and future lunar-grade counterparts. But future iterations of the rocket are expected to tower 365 feet.
Technicians stack the SLS core stage at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 12, 2021.
NASA/Cory Huston
If Artemis I goes well, the next SLS mission will send an Orion spaceship around the moon with astronauts on board. The following mission, according to NASA’s plan, will see Orion dock to a SpaceX Starship in lunar orbit. Two astronauts will board the new vessel, and Starship will land them on the moon’s south pole.
Elon Musk stands before a Starship prototype stacked atop a Super Heavy booster prototype in Boca Chica, Texas on February 10, 2022.
SpaceX
Starship and its Super Heavy booster are still in development and testing at SpaceX facilities in Boca Chica, Texas. It’s unclear when they will launch to orbit for the first time — a critical test flight before the rocket can fly humans or land on the moon.
SpaceX’s Starship stacked atop its Super Heavy booster at the company’s facility near Boca Chica, Texas on February 10, 2022.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Starship-Super Heavy is slated to be the largest rocket ever built.
Engineers repairing the area where a liquid hydrogen leak was detected during the second attempted launch of SLS on September 3. This photo was taken on September 8 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: NASA
A demonstration to confirm a repaired hydrogen leak appears to have gone well, with NASA declaring Wednesday’s cryogenic tanking test a success. Engineers still need to review the results, but the space agency could be on track to perform its third launch attempt of its SLS megarocket in just six days—a mission that would officially kick off the Artemis lunar program.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson declared a “go” for tanking at 7:30 a.m. (all times Eastern), around 30 minutes after the intended start time. Ground teams began the process of loading more than 700,000 gallons of propellant into the megarocket, beginning with the core stage. Today’s cryogenic tanking test, as it was called, happened as the 321-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket stood at Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The test follows two previous launch attempts, both of which ended in scrubs, for different reasons. The first scrub, on August 29, was the result of a faulty sensor that recorded erroneous engine temperature readings, while the second scrub, on September 3, was the result of a significant hydrogen leak, which NASA subsequently traced to damaged seals at the quick disconnect fitting between a liquid hydrogen fuel line and the core stage. SLS uses a mixture of oxygen and liquid hydrogen, the latter of which has a propensity to leak due to its small atomic stature.
Not willing to attempt a third launch attempt just quite yet, NASA officials decided to run a cryogenic tanking test, the primary objective of which was to “look at the two new seals,” as Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for common exploration systems development at NASA, told reporters on Monday. NASA officials refrained from calling today’s test a wet dress rehearsal, as key wet dress objectives, such as going into the terminal count phase of the countdown and powering the Orion spacecraft and side boosters, were not included in Wednesday’s test.
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For today’s test, a key strategy was for ground teams to employ a “kinder, gentler” approach to tanking. Engineers felt that a slower approach would lessen the chance of thermal shock, as components come into contact with ultra-cold propellants at temperatures reaching -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-217 degrees Celsius). It’s possible that thermal shock, or an unintended over-pressurization, resulted in the hydrogen leak on September 3, but the true cause of the faulty 8-inch seal, which exhibited a possible indentation mark less than 0.01 inches in size, is not yet known.
At around 9:45 a.m., ground teams transitioned from slow fill to fast fill. An hour later, the teams reported a hydrogen leak at the quick disconnect between the rocket and the tail service mast umbilical, in what was an ominous sign. Blackwell-Thompson signed off on the ensuing plan to warm the line and reset the connection point, and the teams were back in business about an hour later. Speaking to Blackwell-Thompson after the test, Derrol Nail, launch commentator for NASA, said, “you could kind of feel the room deflate a bit, but as [the ground teams] got past it, you could feel a certain lifting of the room.”
The tanking moved quickly and smoothly after that, with the completion of the thermal conditioning of the rocket’s four RS-25 engines happening shortly before 1:00 p.m. The teams managed to fully fill the core stage and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), otherwise known as the upper stage, with propellants. By 3:45 p.m., launch controllers had completed the pre-pressurization test, with de-tanking activities starting shortly thereafter. “All objectives for the Artemis 1 cryogenic demonstration have been met,” tweeted NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems at 4:33 p.m., and the test was declared complete 20 minutes later.
“I think the test went really well,” Blackwell-Thompson told Nail. “We wanted to learn, we wanted to evaluate the [tail service mast umbilicals] under cryogenic conditions.” She said teams were also working with a new loading operation, the so-called kinder, gentler approach, which Blackwell-Thompson described as being “very purposeful.” Ultimately, “all test objectives were accomplished today,” she said.
NASA will need to review today’s test results and decide how to move forward. Ideally, the engineers will like what they saw, setting the stage for launch in just six days. Assuming the test is as much of a success as it appears to be, NASA could launch SLS as early as September 27, with a 70-minute launch window opening at 11:37 a.m. ET. For that to happen, however, the space agency still needs to receive a waiver from the Space Force’s Eastern Range, which manages launches along the Florida east coast. NASA is currently attempting to launch the Artemis 1 mission, in which the SLS rocket will deliver an uncrewed Orion capsule on journey to the Moon and back.
A successful launch would be the start of the Artemis era, in which NASA is seeking a sustainable and sustained presence in the lunar environment. Artemis 1 is a demonstration mission that would set the stage for Artemis 2, in which a crewed Orion spacecraft will attempt a similar journey in late 2024.
NASA’s massive Moon rocket is awaiting an upcoming cryogenic demonstration test before launch.Photo: NASA/Joel Kowsky
After two failed attempts to launch its mega Moon rocket, NASA is planning for a third go at its inaugural Artemis mission. The space agency is now hoping to test the rocket on September 21 and finally launch it to space six days later, with a backup opportunity in early October. That is, if Space Force agrees.
NASA had been aiming to launch the Space Launch System (SLS) on September 23, but the space agency has pushed that back to September 27, and with a backup opportunity available on October 2. The 70-minute launch window on September 27 opens at 11:37 a.m. ET. The 109-minute launch window for the October 2 launch is still under review, but it opens at 2:52 p.m. ET.
These targets are all fine and well, but NASA must first get approval from the U.S. Space Force. The agency filed a request for an extension of the current testing requirement from the Eastern Range, a branch of Space Force that oversees rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch permits are issued with time restrictions to ensure the safety of the public, and NASA’s original permit for the SLS launch has expired.
NASA has been providing additional data as requested by the Range, but the space agency is still waiting for the request to be accepted. “The agency is continuing preparations for the cryogenic demonstration test and potential launch opportunities, should the request be approved,” NASA wrote in a blog post on Monday. If NASA fails to get the waiver, it will be forced to return the SLS rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building to inspect and reset batteries associated with the rocket’s launch abort system.
Engineers have been working to fix a hydrogen leak that resulted in a second failed launch attempt on September 3. Over the weekend, the Artemis 1 teams completed their repairs after replacing two seals that resulted in the leak, according to NASA. Later this week, the teams will conduct tests at ambient temperature conditions before attempting the cryogenic tanking demonstration scheduled for September 21. For this test, ground teams will attempt to perform a full tanking of the core stage and the upper stage under the usual ultra-cold conditions.
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“The updated dates represent careful consideration of multiple logistical topics, including the additional value of having more time to prepare for the cryogenic demonstration test, and subsequently more time to prepare for the launch,” NASA wrote. “The dates also allow managers to ensure teams have enough rest and to replenish supplies of cryogenic propellants.”
At the same time, NASA is targeting an October 3 launch of its Crew 5 mission to the International Space Station and is working with SpaceX to figure out whether the Artemis 1 launch could have any impact on the commercial crew flight.
It’s certainly busy at NASA, but we’re hoping to see the SLS rocket fly soon. The liftoff will set the stage for the space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to land astronauts on the Moon no earlier than 2025.
More: Artemis 1: To Boldly Go Where Four RS-25 Engines Have Gone Many Times Before
SLS on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: NASA
NASA is preparing to replace a faulty seal linked to a hydrogen leak that resulted in the second scrubbed launch attempt of SLS on Saturday. The repairs will happen at the launch pad, which is ideal from a testing perspective, but NASA still needs to cart the jumbo rocket back to the assembly building to meet safety requirements.
Technicians will replace a seal on the quick disconnect, an interface that joins the liquid hydrogen fuel line on the mobile launcher to the Space Launch System core stage, according to a brief NASA statement. The teams will also check plate coverings on other umbilicals to rule out hydrogen leaks at those locations. “With seven main umbilical lines, each line may have multiple connection points,” NASA explained.
NASA is attempting an uncrewed mission to the Moon and back, in preparation for a human lunar landing later this decade. But during the early stages of the launch attempt on September 3, an inadvertent command briefly raised the pressure within the system, possibly damaging some components. An unmanageable hydrogen leak resulted in the scrub—the second in a week. The earlier scrub, on Monday, August 29, was also marred by a hydrogen leak, though engineers were able to resolve it. Ultimately, it was a faulty sensor that doomed the first launch attempt.
The unflown SLS rocket remains in a safe configuration, standing tall on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is seeking to launch the Artemis 1 mission, in which the rocket will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a journey around the Moon and back. The first launch period, which ran from August 23 to September 6, has ended, forcing a pause in the action. The space agency must now prepare the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket for the third Artemis 1 launch attempt, the date of which has not yet been announced.
Technicians are planning to set up a temporary enclosure around the base of the rocket to protect the hardware from the Florida weather. A benefit of working directly on the pad is that engineers will be able to test the fix under cryogenic conditions. During launch preparations, liquid hydrogen gets pumped through the system at ultra-cold temperatures reaching -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-253 degrees Celsius). This, plus the added high pressure, has the effect of contracting and warping components, which can lead to unwanted and dangerous leaks, particularly around seals.
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As a propellant, hydrogen is efficient but notoriously difficult to reign in. Hydrogen leaks were an all-too-frequent source of scrubs during the Space Shuttle era, and now SLS, which is likewise powered by a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen mixture, appears to be suffering from the same technical hardship.
Engineers mulled returning SLS to the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for the required repairs but opted instead to work on the pad. The VAB would’ve presented a more controlled environment to work in, but without the ability to replicate the desired cryogenic conditions for testing (tests inside the VAB have to be run at ambient temperatures). “Performing the work at the pad also allows teams to gather as much data as possible to understand the cause of the issue,” NASA added.
SLS will likely have to return to the VAB, fix or no fix. The Eastern Range, a branch of the U.S. Space Force, requires periodic certification of the rocket’s flight termination system. NASA already received a waiver that extended certification from 20 to 25 days, but it’s not clear if the space agency will request a second waiver, which would be irregular. The Eastern Range oversees launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and works to ensure the public’s safety.
At a press briefing on Saturday, Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, said “it’s not our decision—it’s the Range’s decision.” He added that a waiver from the Range could keep the rocket on the pad, “but that’s not likely.” So, under the Eastern Range restrictions, and until we hear otherwise from NASA about a second waiver, the rocket must return to the VAB prior to the next launch period.
A third launch attempt in late September or early October remains a distant possibility. The next period opens on September 19 and closes on October 4, with no opportunities to launch on September 29 and 30. For this to work, however, NASA would have to complete its latest fix, run tests, cart SLS back to the VAB for recertification (which involves a very short confidence test), and then cart it back to the launch pad. It’s possible, but ground teams will have to haul ass to make this happen.
Failing this, the third launch period opens on October 17 and closes on October 31, with launch exclusions on October 24, 25, 26, and 28. Two other periods, one in November and one in December, exist within the current calendar year.
There’s still plenty of time for SLS to launch in 2022, but it all depends on how quickly engineers can get a handle on this complex system. SLS is the most powerful rocket that NASA has ever built and is a key component of the space agency’s Artemis program, which seeks a sustained and prolonged human presence at and around the Moon.
More: What to Know About Lunar Gateway, NASA’s Future Moon-Orbiting Space Station.
