By Troy McClellan
The luck of the Irish was with NASA on the St. Patrick’s Day rollout of its new Moon rocket at Kennedy Space Center. After a couple of days of stormy weather on the space coast, the skies gave way to sunshine and cool, gentle breezes.
Just after 11 a.m., the doors on High Bay 3 of the massive Vehicle Assembly Building were opened to prepare for a journey that has been years in the making. It was in 2005 when NASA began development on plans to return a human presence on the Moon, after it retired the space shuttle. The concept went through several design and development changes, and many doubted that it would ever see completion.
It has been almost 50 years since the last Moon rocket left High Bay 3 with Apollo 17, on Dec. 11, 1972, with Commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt, who was also the first scientist on the Moon. That was the final time men would set foot on the Moon. Though this will be an uncrewed test mission with a launch planned for this summer, it marks the long awaited beginning of our return to the Moon.
The 322-foot tall, 3.5-million-pound Artemis I rocket arrived at the launchpad at 4:15 a.m. on March 18. NASA will establish long-term exploration on the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars. SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, along with the human landing system and the gateway in orbit around the Moon, are NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.
According to the detailed timeline they will use on the actual launch day, teams will load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or super cold, propellants, including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, into the rocket at the launch pad on the mobile launcher. They will practice every phase of the countdown, including weather briefings, pre-planned holds in the countdown, conditioning and replenishing the propellants as needed, as well as validation checks.
Photos by Troy McClellan
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen illuminated by spotlights atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, Friday, March 18, 2022, after being rolled out to the launch pad for the first time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Ahead of NASA’s Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch.
