• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home Sci-tech

NASA’s big, new moon rocket begins rollout en route to launch pad tests

18 March 2022, 9:53 AM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System rocket with its Orion crew capsule perched on top, is seen in the Vehicle Assembly Building before it is scheduled to make a slow-motion journey to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 16, 2022.

NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System rocket with its Orion crew capsule perched on top, is seen in the Vehicle Assembly Building before it is scheduled to make a slow-motion journey to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 16, 2022.

Image: Reuters

NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System rocket with its Orion crew capsule perched on top, is seen in the Vehicle Assembly Building before it is scheduled to make a slow-motion journey to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 16, 2022.

NASA’s next-generation moon rocket began a highly anticipated, slow-motion journey out of its assembly plant en route to the launch pad in Florida on Thursday for a final round of tests in the coming weeks that will determine how soon the spacecraft can fly.

Rollout of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule marks a key milestone in U.S. plans for renewed lunar exploration after years of setbacks, and the public’s first glimpse of a space vehicle more than a decade in development.

The process of moving the 5.75-million-pound SLS-Orion spacecraft out of its Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building began shortly after 5:30 pm EDT (2130 GMT) under clear skies at Cape Canaveral. A nearly full moon rose about 90 minutes later.

The SLS-Orion, which cost some $37 billion to develop including ground systems, constitutes the backbone of NASA’s Artemis program, aimed at returning astronauts to the moon and establishing a long-term lunar colony as a precursor to eventual human exploration of Mars.

The mega rocket, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty, was being slowly trundled to Launch Pad 39B atop an enormous tractor-crawler roughly the size of a baseball diamond, creeping at less than a mile per hour on a 4-mile (6.5-km) journey expected to take about 11 hours. The crawler is operated by a 25-person crew.

The spectacle was carried live on NASA Television and the space agency’s website. A band from the University of Central Florida played the National Anthem as the rollout began in front of throngs of employees and other onlookers gathered outside to watch the event.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the world’s most powerful rocket, right here,” NASA chief Bill Nelson told the crowd, gesturing toward the spacecraft minutes after the rollout started. “Humanity will soon embark on a new era of exploration.”

Among those in the crowd was former astronaut Tom Stafford, who orbited the moon as commander of Apollo 10 in 1969, NASA said in its webcast.

The rollout, paving the way for NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I mission around the moon and back, was delayed last month by a series of technical hurdles the space agency said it has since resolved as teams readied the rocket for the launch pad.

Dress rehearsal for launch 

Once secured at the pad, the SLS-Orion ship is to be prepared for a critical pre-flight test called a “wet dress rehearsal,” which will begin on April 3 and take about two days to complete.

Engineers plan to fully load the SLS core fuel tanks with super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant and conduct a simulated launch countdown – stopping seconds before the rocket’s four R-25 engines would ignite – in a top-to-bottom evaluation of the entire system.

The outcome will determine when NASA will attempt its first launch of the rocket and capsule combination, a mission designated Artemis I.

The US Apollo program sent six manned missions to the moon from 1969 to 1972, the only crewed spaceflights yet to reach the lunar surface. Artemis, named for the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, seeks to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon, among others.

But NASA has several steps to take before it gets there, starting with a successful Artemis I flight, planned as an uncrewed journey 40 000 miles (64,374 km) beyond the moon and back.

The Orion capsule will carry a simulated crew of three – a male mannequin named “Commander Moonikin Campos,” in honor of the late NASA engineer Arturo Campos, who played a key role in bringing Apollo 13 back to Earth after an in-flight accident, and two female mannequins. All will be fitted with sensors to measure radiation levels.

NASA has said it was reviewing potential Artemis I launch windows in April and May, but the timeline could slip depending on results of the dress rehearsal.

Eight or nine days after those tests are completed and the propellant is drained from the rocket, the ship will be rolled back to the assembly building to await the setting of a launch date.

NASA announced in November that it would aim to achieve its first human lunar landing of Artemis as early as 2025, preceded by a crewed Artemis flight around the moon and back in 2024.

Both of those missions, and others to follow, will be flown to space by the SLS, which surpasses the Apollo-era Saturn V as the world’s largest, most powerful launch vehicle, and the first exploration-class rocket built by NASA for human spaceflight since Saturn V.

Nelson also called Artemis an “economic engine” that in 2019 alone generated $14 billion in commerce and supported 70 000 US jobs.

Share article
Previous Post

King Goodwill Zwelithini’s brother to challenge the appointment of King Misuzulu

Next Post

Lifestyle audits to be mandatory for all provincial, national departments

Related Posts

CORONAVIRUS: Your daily update

4 July 2022, 7:30 AM
Pfizer's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pill Paxlovid is packaged in Ascoli, Italy, in this undated image obtained by Reuters on November 16, 2021.

German health minister in move to boost use of COVID treatment Paxlovid

4 July 2022, 1:38 AM
A view of a flooded road following heavy rains in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia March 2, 2022.

Floods hit southeast Australia, forcing evacuations

3 July 2022, 12:23 PM
Syringes with needles are seen in front of a displayed stock graph and words "Omicron SARS-CoV-2" in this illustration taken November 27, 2021.

Omicron-specific COVID shots could increase protection as boosters, European Medicines Agency says

3 July 2022, 3:01 AM
The International Space Station (ISS) photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, October 4, 2018. NASA/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

Astronaut study reveals effects of space travel on human bones

2 July 2022, 7:38 PM
A man with luggage walks in the rain on The Bund as Typhoon In-fa approaches Shanghai, China July 25, 2021.

China lashed by year’s first typhoon, record rains forecast

2 July 2022, 12:40 PM
Next Post
Minister for Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo.

Lifestyle audits to be mandatory for all provincial, national departments

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • Interpol arrests suspect for swindling US citizens millions of dollars
  • Missing Soweto boy’s body found at Eldorado Park wastewater plant
  • Police close investigation into Enyobeni tavern tragedy
  • Taxi commuters to pay an additional R5 in fare from Friday
  • LISTICLE: Enyobeni Tavern saga – What we know
  • Interpol arrests suspect for swindling US citizens millions of dollars
  • East London police search for clues that led to tavern death; calls to revoke tavern’s licence 
  • UPDATE: At least 17 people killed in an East London tavern stampede
  • SANTACO and NTA calls on COSATU to join the national shutdown over the hiking fuel prices
  • NTA yet to decide whether to support calls for national shutdown amid fuel price hikes

LATEST

Miners work deep underground at Sibanye Gold's Masimthembe shaft in Westonaria.
  • Business

Sibanye Stillwater faces operation difficulties as Eskom continues to implement rolling blackouts


President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the masses.
  • South Africa

Social acceptability of young people drinking alcohol a serious problem: Ramaphosa


V, Suga, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin and J-Hope of BTS arrive at the 2021 American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
  • Lifestyle

BTS rekindle debate about military service in South Korea


President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the nation.
  • Politics

‘Growing public interest in the work of Acting Public Protector as investigation continues on President Ramaphosa’


  • Coronavirus
  • Sci-tech

CORONAVIRUS: Your daily update


Football player playing with the ball.
  • Sport
  • Soccer

African Cup of Nations finals moved to January 2024


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous King Goodwill Zwelithini’s brother to challenge the appointment of King Misuzulu
Next Lifestyle audits to be mandatory for all provincial, national departments