NASA's Artemis 2 endeavor, spanning 10 days, is advancing toward liftoff with a freshly designated start time. Buoyed by a fruitful wet dress rehearsal held Thursday, the organization intends to initiate the flight no sooner than March 6. A prior effort in early February fell short owing to a hydrogen leak issue.
Thursday's exercise saw the Space Launch System (SLS) booster filled with exceeding 700,000 gallons of cryogenic fuel, alongside executing two instances of the terminal countdown sequence—the concluding phase prior to ignition—at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. A temporary setback arose from interrupted ground-based signal links, prompting a shift to an alternative network until standard transmissions were restored. NASA reported that specialists isolated the specific hardware behind the glitch.
In a Friday media session, Dr. Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Moon to Mars efforts, declared, 'With the wet dress test's positive outcome from the previous day, March 6 now stands as our initial window for launch.' She emphasized ongoing requirements prior to departure, encompassing a post-rehearsal evaluation, a comprehensive flight certification process, and infrastructure adjustments at the pad.
The Artemis 2 team of four crew members anticipates commencing isolation protocols later Friday to ready for the ascent, Orion's inaugural flight with humans aboard. This venture will represent the first human lunar circumnavigation in over five decades and the most distant human space travel to date. The pilots aim to validate Orion's vital environmental controls, establishing groundwork for subsequent Moon touchdown operations.