BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — At Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s second wet dress rehearsal for Artemis II is pushing toward a simulated 8:30 p.m. launch, marking a major step forward for the agency’s first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years.
After a brief delay caused by a communications issue, teams successfully fueled the Space Launch System rocket with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, without the hydrogen leaks that cut short the first practice run.
Inside the White Room at Launch Pad 39B, the Artemis II closeout crew simulated launch day procedures.
The Orion crew module hatch was closed and sealed after inspections of hatch seals, environmental controls, and mechanical and electrical connections.
While astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen are not participating in the rehearsal, crews practiced strapping them in and securing the spacecraft as they would on launch day.
“They’re collecting tons and tons of data,” said Florida Tech’s Dr. Don Platt. He told Eyewitness News; teams are going to go through it with a fine-tooth comb and make sure everything looks good. Platt says Artemis II could one day be viewed the same way we look back at the first missions to the International Space Station as the start of something much bigger a sustained human presence beyond Earth orbit and eventually, missions deeper into the solar system.
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