1 of 5 | NASA’s Space Launch System rocket stands on the launch pad at Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA said on Sunday that they are looking at an 80% chance for weather that will allow Artemis II to launch on April 1. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
NASA officials said Sunday that the crew, Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule are ready to launch the Artemis II mission to circle the moon.
In a mission set to take humans farther from the Earth than they have gone in nearly 50 years, the space agency will start its countdown to launch the four-person crew on a 10-day mission that is being billed as a test flight.
If weather permits on Wednesday, the Artemis II crew — Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover — will take Orion on its first crewed flight, an important step in NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon and eventually travel to Mars.
“We are ready,” Lori Glaze, NASA’s acting associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said during a press briefing on Sunday.
“All of our operations have been going smoothly … Our flight systems are ready. The ground systems are ready. Our launch and operations teams are ready, and our flight operations team in Houston is ready,” she said.
The official countdown to launch is scheduled to start on Monday, with a launch window set to open Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. EDT.
With the SLS and Orion having gone through extensive testing — including a three-week trip back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to repair a helium issue — Shawn Quinn, manager of NASA’s Ground Exploration Systems program, the only concern he has at the moment is weather and cloud cover.
The forecast as of Sunday, however, looks to be 80% suitable for launch, he said.
Artemis II rocket rolls out to the launchpad in Florida
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket emerges on Saturday morning from the Vehicle Assembly Building to start its journey to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
