NASA plans to roll its huge moon rocket back to the launchpad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday evening, setting the stage for four astronauts’ much-anticipated journey around the moon.
The 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket, topped with the Orion capsule, will launch the crew on a 10-day trip as early as April 1. But first, the rocket and spacecraft must make a painstakingly slow, 4-mile trek from the hangar to the launchpad.
The journey is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET and will likely wrap up around 12 hours later.
It’s the second rollout process for the 11-million-pound rocket. It was first rolled to the launchpad in mid-January, but several weeks ago, engineers found a blockage in the flow of helium that required NASA to roll the rocket back to its Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs.
The vehicle's return to the launchpad will involve a moving platform known as a crawler-transporter, which will inch along at a pace of around 1 mile per hour.
The mission, known as Artemis II, will mark the first time that NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft carry people. It will be the system's second spaceflight, following an uncrewed mission around the moon, Artemis I, in 2022. When the crew members — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen —swing around the moon, they could reach a distance farther from Earth than any humans have gone before.
NASA said it was able to fix the helium flow issues while the rocket was in the hangar by replacing a seal in a line that feeds helium from ground systems into the rocket. Engineers also replaced batteries on the rocket and the Orion spacecraft and conducted various tests.
The helium issue was uncovered after an hourslong fueling test and launch-day walkthrough, known as a wet dress rehearsal. It was the rocket’s second such rehearsal, after the first had to stop early due to leaking hydrogen at the tail end of the rocket.
Last week, NASA officials met for a two-day conference known as a flight readiness review. Mission managers, the four-astronaut crew and other NASA representatives discussed the upcoming flight, its risks and the work ahead. The agency decided to press ahead with a launch attempt in April, formally certifying the rocket and spacecraft for flight.
