Florida Today reports that on Wednesday, the four person crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission “had a first chance to practice what their launch day will feel like.” In what is “called a dry dress rehearsal, the astronauts got suited up and took their new electric crew transportation vehicles for a spin to the launch pad.” Since the mission’s SLS rocket “is still in production at other NASA facilities nationwide, Wednesday’s practice run focused on preparing ground team support of the crew.” Slated to “launch from KSC as early as November of next year, Artemis II – the first lunar human spaceflight mission since 1972 – will send the four crew members on a trip around the moon and back deeper into space than any mission ever before.” This week’s launch day rehearsal “marked only the second time the prime crew of the Artemis II lunar mission has traveled to KSC since being announced in April.”
Full Story (Florida Today – Subscription Publication)
Tag: launch pad
Vulcan Rolled Out to Launchpad for Final Series of Tests Ahead of its Debut Launch
Aviation Week (5/11) reports that a “United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan-Centaur rocket was rolled out to its launchpad on May 11 for a final series of tests ahead of its debut launch, targeted for this summer.” Space News reports ULA said on Thursday that the “Vulcan is in position atop SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to undergo a full launch day rehearsal tomorrow and flight readiness firing test of its main engines planned for next week.” ULA CEO Tory Bruno tweeted on Wednesday that the “Vulcan was returning to tanking tests although the investigation of a Centaur upper-stage testing anomaly that occurred on March 29 has not yet been completed.” Bruno said that “ULA plans to livestream the flight-readiness test firing of the BE-4 main engines. The test fire is expected to last about six seconds, he said. ‘A short burn, but a very long time to be on the pad.’”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Space News)
SpaceX to Use Second Vandenberg Launch Pad for Falcon Rockets
Space News reports SpaceX is adding a second West Coast launch pad after receiving “approval to lease Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, a historic site previously occupied by United Launch Alliance.” Space Force unit Space Launch Delta 30 announced this week that SpaceX will use the location to launch Falcon rockets. SpaceX is expanding its “operations at Vandenberg…following a period of extraordinary growth fueled by commercial launch demand and the deployment of its Starlink internet mega-constellation.”
Full Story (Space News)
SpaceX Working to Upgrade Cape Canaveral Launch Pad
Space News reports that while SpaceX is preparing to launch the Crew-5 mission with NASA, the company is “also starting work to host cargo and crew launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.” SpaceX VP for Build and Flight Reliability Bill Gerstenmaier said, “We’ve already started the work to begin the preparations for pad 40. We’ve ordered some hardware, put some contracts into place.” Space News adds, “The effort to build up a crew and cargo capability at SLC-40 is driven by SpaceX’s work to host Starship launches at LC-39A. With that vehicle yet to make its first orbital launch attempt, NASA raised concerns that a Starship launch failure at LC-39A could damage the existing launch infrastructure there and affect NASA’s ability to send cargo and crews to the ISS.”
Full Story (Space News)
SpaceX to Reuse Falcon 9 Booster for Record 12th Time
Spaceflight Now reports that SpaceX “raised a veteran Falcon 9 booster vertical on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral late Thursday, ready for a record-setting 12th mission Friday night with 53 more Starlink internet satellites.” The launch “will mark the 12th flight of a Falcon 9 booster that debuted in March 2019 with the unpiloted test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which paved the way for subsequent SpaceX launches with astronauts. This booster, designated B1051, has launched from all three of SpaceX’s active pads in Florida and California.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Artemis 1 Rolled Back to Vehicle Assembly Building for Repairs
Spaceflight Now reports that NASA rolled the SLS rocket for the Artemis 1 mission “back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building before dawn Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center, moving into the hangar for repairs after technical problems prevented teams from completing a countdown dress rehearsal earlier this month.” NASA officials “hope to complete the repairs and finish testing on the Space Launch System moon rocket in time for liftoff of the Artemis 1 mission no earlier than August, about two months later than previously scheduled.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
NASA to Roll Artemis 1 Rocket Off the Launch Pad Next Week
SPACE reports that NASA announced Monday that it is to roll the Artemis 1 moon rocket off the launch pad early next week. NASA Exploration Ground Systems Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said, “We’ll set a time for the roll as we get closer and we get through some of this work based on the weather and some other things, just seeing how the schedule lays out. But currently, Tuesday [April 26] is the timeframe.”
Full Story (SPACE)