A specific date for the SLS launch has been specified by NASA.
According to a report from Ars Technica, U.S. space agency officials stated on Wednesday, July 20, that they are on track to launch the moon-bound Space Launch System (SLS) this summer.
We may be less than five weeks away from witnessing the Artemis I mission to lift off because the agency established a provisional launch date of August 29.
NASA’s SLS has a set date for the launch.
According to current plans, SLS would be used to launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft toward the moon. On August 18, the organization’s big rocket will be transported to the launch site. The space agency then decided to launch on August 29, September 2, and September 5, respectively.
“These are the dates we are working toward today,” said Jim Free, director of NASA’s human exploration systems development program, during the announcement. It’s important to remember that he did state that everything had to go according to plan for NASA to make the first launch window. NASA would also need the weather to cooperate.
The agency just announced several launch windows that go all the way through 2023. During the first window, Orion would lift off atop SLS on August 29 at 8:33 am and return to Earth on October 10. When the September 2 window launches at 12:48 p.m. ET, it will touch down on October 11; when the September 5 window launches at 5:12 p.m. ET, it will touch down on October 17.
all the way to the moon
NASA’s Artemis I mission, which will usher in a daring new era of space exploration, will be carried out by SLS if and when it does launch. Orion will be transported around the moon by Artemis I before returning to Earth and splashing down in the Pacific. The identical maneuver would be performed by Artemis II this time with astronauts in the Orion spacecraft. A SpaceX Starship launch vehicle will be used for Artemis III, which will return men to the moon’s surface for the first mission since 1972. Both Artemis II and III are planned to debut around 2025.
In order to determine whether SLS will launch at the end of August, NASA will conduct a Flight Readiness Review on August 22.
Prior to that, on August 11, the space agency will begin turning on the flight termination system for SLS. If the rocket deviates from its intended path after launch, the system is set up to kill the rocket. Importantly, it can only be activated at the Kennedy Space Center Vertical Assembly Building (VAB); to operate without the SLS’s power supply, its batteries must be charged. After activating the flight termination system, NASA has three weeks to launch SLS before it needs to reactivate it. In the event that NASA misses the September 5 window, SLS might launch as late as October.
Even while the date of August 29 is not firmly fixed in stone, it demonstrates that the launch of NASA’s SLS is rapidly approaching. The launch vehicle just completed a protracted wet dress rehearsal and is waiting to be rolled out of the VAB with Orion. Keep checking back for more information about NASA’s enormous moon-bound launch vehicle.