Space and Physics
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In just a matter of days (hopefully), four astronauts will launch to go around the Moon. Artemis II could break multiple records, including the farthest humanity has ever reached into space and the fastest people have ever traveled in space. Whether that is happening this week or at the beginning of the next will be decided tonight – and you can watch it live.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Artemis II’s rocket, the Space Launch System, is already fully assembled on the launchpad with the Orion capsule that the crew will travel and live in for their 10-day journey attached to it. What needs to happen now is the wet rehearsal, where NASA will complete a full mission countdown simulation to fuel and power on the rocket. Yesterday, the team powered up the rocket’s core stage ahead of being loaded with more than 3,180,000 liters ( 700,000 gallons) of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Filling up the rocket and then emptying the tank many days ahead of the actual launch is a crucial test to make sure everything is working, safe, and there are no leaks.
The Orion spacecraft has been powered up for days due to the cold weather currently happening in Florida, which has already pushed back the earliest launch by two days. Engineers will also charge Orion’s flight batteries and the core stage batteries to make sure everything is in tiptop shape. The countdown will go through many stages (you can check the full schedule here), but there’s a strong focus on what will be happening during the last few minutes.
The terminal countdown will have the team rehearse the last 10 minutes. It will go all the way down to 1 minute and 30 seconds to launch (T-1 minute 30 seconds), where it will stop for up to three minutes. In the actual launch, if the pause is less than three minutes, then the countdown can continue. Otherwise, it goes back to 10 minutes. In the first test, the clock will resume going down to T-33 seconds before launch and pause again. Then the clock will go back up to 10 minutes, and the sequence will be tested again.
How to watch NASA's Artemis II wet rehearsal live
NASA began the 49-hour countdown to the fueling test on Saturday night witha simulated launch window of 9 pm EST Monday, February 2 (2 am GMT February 3) and is expected to last until 1 am EST (6 am GMT).
The full test can be watched live here and on NASA’s various channels, including YouTube, NASA+, NASA TV, X, and the 24/7 live pad camera.
If all this goes well, the mission team will pick the date for the Artemis II launch. The wet rehearsal was scheduled for Saturday with the hope of launching either Friday, February 6, or Saturday, February 7. Currently, the earliest Artemis II can launch is February 8. If the date needs to shift further, there are two more possible launch dates in February: 10 and 11.
If those dates can’t be met, the launch will shift by four weeks and the launch window will start again from March 6-11. Basically, you need the Moon to be in the right place in its orbit for what the mission plans to do, including seeing areas of the far side of the Moon that no human has seen before.
The Artemis II crew is composed of NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. And while they will not land on the Moon, they are going to break records!
