NASA
In a media teleconference that was held by NASA earlier today, agency officials mentioned that the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis 1 mission will roll out to Kennedy Space Center's (KSC) Launch Complex (LC)-39B for a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) on March 17 (which is St. Patrick's Day)!
The mega-Moon rocket—with its mobile launcher riding atop crawler-transporter 2 (shown below)—is set to exit KSC's mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at 6:00 PM, Eastern Daylight Time (3:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time) for its 4.2 mile-long journey to the pad.
SLS will remain at LC-39B for about a month if the WDR goes according to plan. It will then roll back into the VAB for final installation of its flight termination system, and other remaining pre-launch tasks.
The March timeframe for the WDR effectively rules out April as a launch window during which the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) can begin its flight to the Moon, but there will be several opportunities starting in early May and leading through July for the MPCV to embark on its inaugural lunar mission. Here are the dates:
May 7 - 21
June 6 - 16
June 29 - July 12 (with launch attempts standing down during days surrounding the Fourth of July weekend)
This is wonderful news for Artemis supporters and space aficionados in general...and is a welcome respite from the sad reports currently pouring in from the other side of the world. I stand with the people of Ukraine.
Experience the crawler in 360°! Get up close and personal and watch as it crawls out to Launch Pad 39B, where it will soon return to take @NASA_SLS and @NASA_Orion for Wet Dress Rehearsal in preparation for the launch of #Artemis I. 🚀https://t.co/O4qpgm3weP
— NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) February 23, 2022
Maintenance roll with crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) happening right now at @NASAKennedy. Water sprayed by a truck in front to reduce dust creates a small rainbow. 🌈
— NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) February 23, 2022
When CT-2 rolls out with @NASA_SLS and @NASA_Orion stacked atop, the entire thing will weigh 3.5 million lbs. pic.twitter.com/w7O7vZ2uE3
As the sun sets on social media "Crawler Day", please enjoy this thread of new crawler images. 😎 pic.twitter.com/zMOUDTVJ39
— NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) February 24, 2022
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