Artemis 2 astronaut crew suits up for moon launch dress rehearsal (photos, video) Diversity will be key to Artemis moon-to-Mars push, NASA officials say Artemis 2 moon rocket now has all 4 powerful engines on board (photo) The 310-foot-long (94 meters) vessel type was first built in 1999, according to NASA materials, to send the huge external tanks of space shuttles from the coast of Louisiana to KSC. 'Engineers will perform testing on the entire stage and its avionics and electrical systems, which act as the 'brains' of the rocket to help control it during flight,' NASA officials wrote in October.Īfter the core stage passes an acceptance review in a few months, it will be readied for a waterway journey to KSC via a Pegasus barge. 6 after individual 'soft mates' the month before. The core stage is at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where all four engines were secured Oct. Meanwhile, all the flight hardware is being assembled at various NASA facilities. The Artemis 2 astronaut crew is busy now with Orion training and medical procedures and is expected to take part in a simulated recovery exercise at sea with NASA and the U.S. From left: Victor Glover (NASA pilot), Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency mission specialist), Christina Koch (NASA mission specialist) and Reid Wiseman (NASA commander). Here they are standing on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which will one day lead to their NASA Space Launch System rocket. The Artemis 2 crew during a launch dress rehearsal on Sept. Related: Artemis 2's Canadian astronaut got their moon mission seat with 'potato salad' Hansen also has extensive management experience that includes managing the 2017 astronaut class training schedule and playing a key role in organizing four complex spacewalks to repair an ISS dark-matter detector. He joined the astronaut corps way back in 2009, however. The fourth member - the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen - is on his first mission due to Canada's relatively small ISS funding allocation (as funding determines the number of flights available). The four astronauts on board Artemis 2 are mostly space veterans: NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch have all flown long-duration missions to the International Space Station, with Koch staying aboard the orbiting for nearly a continuous year. For example, team members performed a water deluge test in October and a launch dress rehearsal in September with the four astronauts. The mobile launcher that will support Artemis 2 is undergoing months of testing at KSC to cover all aspects of liftoff. Also expected are examinations of 'interfaces' (where fuel lines enter the tanks) for further leak avoidance.

The agency is now adjusting launch procedures to prepare for the first-ever crewed Artemis mission.ĭata from Artemis 1's liftoff will allow launch managers to tweak the pressure, temperature and flow rates of SLS propellant for leak management. The Artemis 2 crew was named in April in a star-studded NASA celebration at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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