NASA aims to launch the SLS rocket in just 2 months

Zoom / The Space Launch System rocket will return to the vehicle assembly building this week.

Trevor Mulman

The US space agency has spent a long, long time designing, developing, building and testing the Space Launch System rocket. When NASA launched the rocket program in 2010, US lawmakers said the SLS accelerator should be ready for launch in 2016.

Of course, this startup goal and many others have come and gone. But now, after more than a decade and more than $ 20 billion in funding, NASA and its contractors are very close to declaring the 111-meter rocket ready for its debut launch.

On June 20, NASA successfully counted the rocket to T-29 seconds during a pre-launch refueling test. Although less than a second of T-9, as was the original goal, the agency’s engineers gathered enough data to satisfy the necessary information to proceed to launch.

During several press conferences last week, NASA officials refused to set a target for the mission’s launch. However, in an interview with Ars on Tuesday, NASA senior official Jim Free said the agency was working to launch the window from August 23 to September 6.

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“This is the one we’re targeting,” Free said. “We would be foolish not to focus on that right now. We made incredible progress last week.”

The SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft are then returned to the vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center for final preparation for launch, including activation of the flight termination system. A team of technicians and engineers will also replace the “quick disconnect” seal, where hydrogen leakage was observed during refueling.

That return could begin as early as Thursday, Free said, and workers have made plans to process the vehicle during a relatively quick turn. “This group knows exactly what to do when we return,” he said. “I don’t think we’re stretching to get there. We’re probably pushing a little, but we’re not going to do anything stupid.” On this timeline, the SLS missile can return to the launch pad in less than two months.

This Artemis I mission will not carry people on board, but rather will serve as a test flight for the massive rocket, the largest built by NASA after Saturn V, which the agency uses to fly the Apollo program. A second mission, Artemis II, will fly a crew of four astronauts around the moon. This is unlikely to happen before 2025. The first human landing on the moon, Artemis III, is likely to occur a year or two after the successful completion of Artemis II.