As previously reported, at around 5:00 p.m. on March 17, 2022, NASA live reporting of super deployment event Space Launch System (SLS) rocket nearly 100 meters high, weighing 2,875 tons from the assembly building of the Kennedy Space Center (in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA) moving on a giant crawler vehicle Crawler-Transporter 2 to the launch pad at the Intercontinental Zone. launch case 39B (more than 6 km away).
According to the plan, after the SLS is successfully brought to the launch pad and safely fixed, the team of engineers and technicians of NASA will conduct a second step – called a pre-launch test – to determine if both the SLS rocket, the Orion spacecraft (mounted on top of the SLS), ground equipment and launch crews are ready for the Artemis mission I (bringing the Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back to Earth) or not. Artemis I is the first phase of the Artemis Program to put a man on the Moon in the US in 2025.
KEY POINTS IN NASA’s SLS Launch
At 5:00 p.m. on March 17 local time, NASA held the launch event of the SLS rocket (also known as Mega Moon) at Kennedy Space Center. Attending this important event were a team of scientists, experts, technicians, engineers from NASA and officials and former Apollo astronauts.
– Opening the event, Janet Petro – Director of Kennedy Space Center said:
“Sixty years ago, the Kennedy Space Center was established in response to the challenge posed by then-President JF Kennedy that NASA must send a man to the Moon for the first time and return safely to Earth as part of the NASA Program. Apollo 20th century.
In the 21st century, NASA has deployed the Artemis program to once again send people to the Moon. It will be the first woman and person of color to set foot on the Moon!
Janet Petro – Director of the Kennedy Space Center – speaks at the launch of SLS. Screenshot of NASA Livestream.
NASA has been working day and night to develop technologies that will enable humans to enter deep space and use the knowledge acquired to send humans to Mars. And today, we are here to honor that legacy, honor the people who have worked hard to open a new chapter in NASA’s space exploration journey in particular and the United States in general.”
– Bill Nelson – Director of NASA expressed:
“Today witnessed the moment when the new generation of Artemis – based on the great successes of the Apollo generation – opened a new chapter of the journey to explore the Moon in particular and space in general. The new generation of Artemis will bring Americans re-landed the Moon.
This groundbreaking achievement will pave the way for humanity’s future giant leap missions to Mars. Without a doubt, we are in the golden age of space exploration. It all started with the Artemis I mission.
In it, the SLS rocket will perform this sequence of missions. SLS is the only rocket capable of sending humans deep into space. The SLS is the most powerful rocket in the world and when it takes off, it will deliver 8.8 million pounds of thrust (4,400 US tons). Meanwhile, the Orion spacecraft (mounted on top of the SLS) will make a 386,242 km journey to the Moon.
And then Orion will venture into space farther than any other spacecraft has ever flown in history. And Orion will stay in space longer than any spacecraft designed for astronauts without docking at the International Space Station (ISS). After orbiting the Moon for 1,609,344 km in 3 weeks, Orion will return home faster than any vehicle has before.
Bill Nelson – Director of NASA. Screenshot of NASA Livestream.
All these records would not be possible without the contributions of everyone here. Thousands of scientists, technicians, engineers, and researchers have gathered at NASA, working day and night, until today, after more than a decade of construction, our SLS officially took shape. !
I often say: At NASA, the ‘impossible’ turns into ‘possible’! From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much!”
SLS & HUGE TRANSPORTER
The Space Launch System (SLS) consists of a giant core stage with four car-sized RS-25 engines, two boosters mounted on either side, and an Orion spacecraft secured on top of it. It’s the ‘backbone’ of NASA’s new Artemis Moon program.
SLS plans that, after sending astronauts to lunar orbit, they will use SpaceX’s Starship vehicle as a lunar lander. Later, NASA plans to establish a base on the surface of the Moon.
The most powerful SLS rocket in the world. Photo: NASA
Crawler-Transporter 2 will bring the SLS upright to the launch pad. Photo: NASA
Before that could happen, NASA had to prove that the SLS could fly. Now that the SLS and Orion are fully stacked and thoroughly tested, NASA is using the Crawler-Transporter 2 to get the SLS out of its Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad.
Crawler-Transporter 2 – A crawler transporter is ready at the Vehicle Assembly Building, which will carry the missile vertically traveling a distance of 6 km at a speed of 1.6 km/h to the launch pad. NASA expects the move to take between 6 and 12 hours.
Launch pad at Launch Complex 39B – where SLS will enter spacetime next. Photo: NASA
The Crawler-Transporter crawler has carried NASA rockets to the launch pad for more than 50 years. Over time, it received major upgrades and new weight tests to ensure it could carry the massive SLS rocket.
According to NASA data, Crawler-Transporter 2 weighs 3,300 tons – the same weight as 15 American Statues of Liberty. This transport ‘monster’ is 8 meters tall and has a carrying capacity of 9,000 tons!
At the launch pad, the SLS rocket will undergo a pre-launch test, where the launch team practices an 8-hour process of refueling the rocket and counting down and stopping for 10 seconds before “Take off! That test is scheduled to take off!” on April 3, 2022.
If all goes well, NASA plans to fire up the engines and launch the Artemis I mission into space for the first time in early June 2022.
That first mission (Artemis I) aims to send the Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back to Earth without humans on board. If all goes well, the next SLS mission (Artemis II) will carry astronauts on an adventure around the moon’s orbit in the same path as Artemis I.
Source: Business Insider, NASA Livestream, NASA
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