CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The first view of the Space Launch System at launchpad 39b Friday became clear when a blanket of fog finally rolled out of Kennedy Space Center.
NASA’s new moon rocket is also the first rocket at this launchpad in 13 years.
NASASpaceflight.com journalist Chris Gebhardt said the agency and its workers should take pride in a successful rollout.
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‘’To have a moon rocket back out on that pad, it’s a huge milestone for NASA,’’ Gebhardt said.
Next, the most powerful rocket to date will be prepared for fueling and a full-scale practice countdown that NASA said could happen in two weeks at pad 39b.
‘’It often gets overlooked because A was the one that launched the first Apollo mission to the moon but it was B that launched the dress rehearsal that made Apollo 11 possible,’’ Gebhardt said.
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Making the launch of Artemis I possible will depend on the wet dress rehearsal.
If the test next month is a success, NASA said it will then roll SLS back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, announce its launch date, and roll back to the pad for final preparations ahead of its uncrewed flight test.
Boeing engineer Brandon Burroughs is working to help accomplish those mission objectives.
‘’We will drain all the fuel and make sure things look right with that and we will roll the vehicle back in, do some last-minute checkouts based off of what happens at wet dress,’’ Burroughs said. ‘’And then at that point, we’ll roll back to the launchpad for a successful launch,’’ he continued.
NASA said the wet dress rehearsal could happen the first week of April.