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NASA conducted this week a second countdown rehearsal and tanking test of the SLS rocket, called a wet dress rehearsal, where they assessed the readiness of all systems, including flight hardware, infrastructure, as well as launch, flight, and recovery teams. The mission management team was satisfied with the overall results and determined that they would try to launch on
pending completion of required work at the launch pad, analysis of test data, and the outcome of a Flight Readiness Review (FRR) that NASA will hold at the end of next week. If any technical issues arise between the FRR and launch, or in case of inclement weather, the launch could also be postponed to a later time or date.
The wet dress rehearsal involved loading about 2.6 million litres of cryogenic propellants into the rocket, without the crew on board. After nearly 50 hours of countdown, the NASA teams entered the final ten minutes, known as terminal countdown, when the Artemis II launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson gave the “go” to proceed toward the simulated launch. The launch team paused the clock at T-33 seconds before the simulated launch time. After a planned three-minute hold, they then recycled it back to the T-10 minute mark and performed another run of terminal count. The teams ended the rehearsal by safely removing propellant from the rocket.
Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his crewmates Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch were at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) yesterday to witness part of the wet dress rehearsal. The crew will be entering quarantine later today in preparation for the launch. They will fly out to KSC approximately five days before the launch.
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