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posted by janrinok on Sunday April 03 2022, @11:47PM   Printer-friendly

NASA's big rocket faces its last test before launching:

After two weeks of preparatory work on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, NASA is ready to put its large new rocket and its complex plumbing system to the test. This will be the final major rehearsal before the space agency declares that, after 11 long years and tens of billions of dollars in development costs, the Space Launch System is finally ready to fly.

The "wet dress rehearsal" is slated to begin at 5 pm ET (21:00 UTC) on Friday, when the launch control teams will arrive on console at the Launch Control Center. At that point, engineers and technicians will begin to power up the Orion spacecraft and the rocket itself. But the real action will not take place until Sunday.

At around 6 am ET, a team from NASA and the launch vehicle's contractors will enter a "launch day" countdown; shortly thereafter, they will start to fuel the rocket's core stage with liquid oxygen. The loading of liquid hydrogen will begin about an hour later. NASA has posted a tentative schedule with key milestones on its website.

After a series of holds, NASA plans to resume its countdown toward launch at 2:30 pm ET on Sunday and continue until about T-10 seconds, with the test ending before igniting the rocket's four main engines, which once powered NASA's space shuttle. If all goes well, the test will wrap up by around 5 pm on Sunday.

[...] So will all go well? During a call with reporters on Tuesday, senior NASA officials seemed fairly confident that the wet dress test would go off smoothly. However, they acknowledged that this is the first time the entire rocket and spacecraft will be handled and fueled in concert with its ground systems and the extensive software to manage it all. So yes, they acknowledged, things could go wrong.

About a week after the test is complete, NASA officials said they expect to be able to set a launch date for the Artemis 1 mission, which will fly an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon. Presently, this test flight will happen no earlier than June.


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @02:17AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @02:17AM (#1234661)

    Sorry, but I tend to put anti-SLS in the same category as anti-vaxxers. A looser even if it wins? Doesn't make sense. I don't understand the animus. Is this a takyon thing, or a khallow thing?

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Monday April 04 2022, @03:03AM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 04 2022, @03:03AM (#1234672) Journal
    It's a continuation of a paradigm of space exploration that's been failing since the Space Shuttle. Build a huge rocket and then try to find something to do with it for the paltry budget you have left.
    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @04:26AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @04:26AM (#1234682)

      Definitely, then, a khallow thing, what with the body types, and leftover "rocket". OK, message recieved, Captain khallow to ground control, ' ' '

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @12:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @12:09PM (#1234736)

    A looser even if it wins?

    I think SpaceX actually has more of a looser rocket than SLS. SLS is actually less of a looser rocket since it has solid rocket boosters. It's still a loser economically, but definitely more on the firm side of things.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 04 2022, @02:24PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 04 2022, @02:24PM (#1234758) Journal

    I don't understand the animus.

    • It is a huge waste of money.
    • It has taken so long it has outlived its practicality.
    • It is unsustainable. $4 Billion per launch?
    • It is not competitive with modern rockets.
    • It's original reason to even exist was to use up old space shuttle parts.
    • It is the king of stupid to take an expensive ($140 million each) reusable engine and put four (4) of those on an expendable vehicle. That $560 million for just engines -- for the booster only. How much does a Falcon Heavy launch cost again? About $90 million? How much will a Starship launch cost?
    • Having congress, and certain senators, and the white house tampering and meddling in a project like this over a long period is no way to develop a rocket.

    Why do I hate SLS? Because as a taxpayer I am footing the bill for this colossal waste. There are lots of other ways the government could create a "jobs" program. We have lots of crumbling infrastructure. We could use more school teachers and less dense classrooms. (that is an investment in our future more than SLS is) What if the cost of a single SLS launch was put into incentives for EVs? Green energy?

    There are so many beneficial things that could be done with the money being wasted on SLS.

    And you ask why the animus? Personally, I think the best thing that could happen for taxpayers is if SLS were to blow up on the pad during testing, taking all of its launch infrastructure with it. I say that as a taxpayer.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @06:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 04 2022, @06:27PM (#1234822)

      Keeping that $4B/y in the Artemis project would fund a really nice moon base. Just saying.