The subsequent astronauts headed to the moon are getting ready for all contingencies as their mission approaches, they usually not too long ago accomplished a nighttime rehearsal of launch procedures.
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission — the first-ever crewed mission of the Orion capsule and Area Launch System (SLS) — is concentrating on a liftoff between February and April of 2026. Aboard Orion shall be NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Area Company (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The quartet will fly Orion on a journey across the moon, looping across the pure satellite tv for pc and slingshotting again to Earth on a “free-return” trajectory. The Artemis 2 crew practiced nighttime launch protocols throughout a latest costume rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle (KSC) in Florida, throughout which they donned their spacesuits to overview emergency egress procedures on the launch tower.
Starting on Aug. 12, the Artemis 2 astronauts spent about two nights going by the motions of placing on their spacesuits inside KSC’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Constructing (O&C), for various launch day situations across the Launch Advanced-39B (LC-39B) pad and close by Car Meeting Constructing (VAB), the place the Artemis 2 SLS rocket is at present being stacked on its cell launcher.
One train had the crew run by a launch scrub sequence, driving the 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) from O&C to LC-39B, after which again to O&C to gauge routes, communications and timing.
The Artemis 2 crew additionally practiced emergency egress procedures within the VAB’s Excessive Bay 3, the location of the SLS stacking.
Within the occasion of a launch day emergency through which the Artemis 2 crew is already inside Orion or close to the highest of the launch tower, a fast exit that places as a lot distance as doable between the rocket and the astronauts is important to make sure their security. In these instances, crews board cable trolley baskets secured on the prime of the cell launch platform (MLP), which transport them to the perimeter of LC-39B’s “pad terminus space,” based on a NASA blog post.
These baskets are at present on the ground of the VAB, the place the MLP and SLS are additionally at present being housed — about 3 miles (5 km) from LC-39B. To finish their emergency egress simulation, the astronauts traveled between each websites.
Transferring from O&C to the VAB in full spacesuit apparel, the Artemis 2 astronauts ascended the MLP tower to the White Room, the connection space on the finish of the MLP crew entry arm that opens to Orion’s hatch. Again on the VAB ground, the crew practiced coming into and exiting the emergency egress baskets.
From there, the crew had been transported to the LC-39B perimeter, the place the hampers would carry them throughout an precise launch day emergency. Whisked inside armored response automobiles, the Artemis 2 crew had been then pushed to predetermined secure zones round KSC earlier than the check was concluded.
Final week’s nighttime costume rehearsal intently mirrors a daytime run-through that the crew accomplished in 2023. Since then, their mission has been delayed a number of occasions, kicking the aim publish from 2024 to its present NET (no sooner than) date of February 2026 (although the crew says April is extra seemingly).
NASA launched highlights from the newest launch day simulation, following the crew from suit-up, transport, ascent and descent of the launch tower to the cable baskets, and out to the launch pad. That full video is out there under:
Artemis 3 is slated to fly NET 2027 and will be the first mission to land astronauts back on the surface of the moon since the end of the Apollo era more than 50 years ago. NASA has tapped SpaceX’s Starship rocket as that mission’s lunar lander. Starship is facing development delays of its own, threatening further delays if the vehicle isn’t ready on NASA’s timeline.
