Artemis Update Launch Window Now Open For End of August

Artemis Update: Launch Window Now Open For End of August

On Wednesday morning, NASA administrators Jim Free, Cliff Lanham, and Mike Sarafin marked the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing with a teleconference announcing the latest updates on the upcoming Artemis mission. 

Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate associate administrator Jim Free began by announcing the scheduled launch windows for the first SLS mission, stating that NASA has “placeholders on the range for August 29th, September 2nd, and September 5th.” 

Free emphasized that these dates are not an agency commitment at this time, with the final confirmation to be made at the flight readiness review just a little over a week before launch. “But these are the dates that the team is working to and have the plan to,” he said. 

According to Free, the wet dress rehearsal was a success with 115 out of 120 commands completed. A hydrogen leak detected during the rehearsal was determined to be caused by a loose fitting on the inside wall of the rocket’s engine section, where the quick disconnect for the liquid hydrogen umbilical attaches. This component, called a “collet,” will be repaired by entering the engine section in parallel with other planned work for launch preparations. 

“We’re here today to say hey, we think we’re on a good path to get to attempts on those dates. Of course, it’s the first time we’re trying to launch this vehicle” Free said. “So we’re trying to make sure everybody understands this is the first time that we’re gonna try and launch this vehicle. We’re gonna be careful, we’re gonna work hard to meet the attempts on those dates that I gave you and do our best to position ourselves to have confidence in those dates.” 

Exploration Ground Systems program senior vehicle operations manager Cliff Lanham stated that since arriving at the Vehicle Assembly Building on July 2, the NASA teams have been pressing ahead to prepare the SLS and Orion for launch. The seals have been replaced on the core stage and teams are preparing to retest those seals. 

Lanham also stated that they are in the final closeout stage of the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) and are performing a number of other scheduled operations, including power testing and battery installation. In addition, teams have completed power testing and installed some of the payloads for the Orion spacecraft along with “Commander Moonikin Campos,” one of three mannequins that will be aboard the initial unmanned mission to test spacecraft systems. 

The mannequin is named in honor of Arturo Campos, who was essential in helping Apollo 13 return safely to Earth. Riding along with Commander Campos will be Helga and Zohar, two female model human torsos named by NASA’s mission partners, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and German Aerospace Center (DLR). Their job will be to take part in the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE), which will provide data on radiation levels in lunar missions as well as testing the usability of vests designed to shield astronauts from space radiation exposure outside the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin recapped the primary objectives of the Artemis I mission, emphasizing that the objectives will remain the same regardless of launch date. The primary objective is to demonstrate that Orion’s heat shield can withstand the high speed and high heat that the spacecraft will encounter when it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere. 

“When Orion returns from the Moon, it will be traveling about 24,500 miles an hour, or Mach 32,” Sarafin explained, adding that it will experience temperatures half as hot as the sun outside the heat shield. “That is much faster and much hotter than the temperatures we see when we return from low earth orbit.” 

Sarafin also noted that while the heat shield has undergone extensive testing on the ground and a similar design has undergone testing on Flight Test One, no aerodynamic or aerothermal test facility can recreate the conditions of lunar re-entry. It is therefore necessary to test it before flying crew aboard the spacecraft. “So validating the heat shield is our primary objective and is a critical activity that we see as necessary before we fly crew on Orion on the very next mission.” 

The second objective of Artemis I is to demonstrate operations in all flight modes of the rocket and the spacecraft as well as all of the facilities across all the mission phases. Teams will evaluate all facets of the mission, including communications, propulsion, and navigation systems. 

Orion itself will provide further confidence as a human-rated spacecraft by successfully navigating the extreme thermal environment and radiation of deep space. The engine and solar array wings will undergo testing as well. “So we’ve got to demonstrate all of these vehicle systems and their performance and understand the uncertainties across all of the teams, all of the facilities, and across all of the mission phases,” Sarafin continued. 

The third objective is the retrieval of Orion after splashdown, after which engineers will collect and process data from the crew module, payloads, and avionics systems to inform future flights. This will also enable NASA to demonstrate its recovery techniques and procedures. 

Lastly, Sarafin noted that there’s also a bucket of “bonus objectives” that aren’t critical to flying astronauts on subsequent missions but are still important, such as engaging the public through the sharing of images taken during the mission and deploying ten CubeSat payloads riding aboard the Orion stage adapter. Public outreach will play a significant role throughout, “sharing the mission as we experience it all together.” 

The first launch window will open for two hours beginning at 7:33 AM CST on August 29. This will be a long-class mission, lasting 42 days, with splashdown set for October 10. 

The other two backup dates are September 2 at 11:48 AM Central, with a 2 hour launch window. This would be a 39-day long-class mission landing on October 11. The third opening is on September 5 at 4:12 PM Central, with a 1 ½ hour launch window. The latter is also a 42-day mission, returning on October 17. Sarafin noted that August 30 through September 1 are unavailable, as there will be a solar eclipse during this time that would render the spacecraft unable to produce power due to it being in the Earth’s shadow. 

“The next several weeks will be a flurry of activity as we finalize our mission planning to prepare the rocket and spacecraft for these launch attempts. Launch day is gonna be here before we know it.”

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