The Artemis 1 lunar rocket is now ready for its last trip on earth

The Artemis I lunar rocket is getting closer to leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center in the POT in Florida for the first time.

The first two of the 20 platforms that surround the SLS (Space Launch System) megarocket and the Orion spacecraft that allow work on the integrated system inside the building were retracted for transfer to Launch Complex 39B. Crews retracted the platforms, which move like hydraulic kitchen drawers, in anticipation of the move, NASA reports.

Crews continue to install instrumentation on the SLS’s twin solid rocket boosters inside the VAB. Thousands of special sensors and instruments will monitor the rocket and spacecraft when they are first deployed on March 17 and make the six-kilometre journey to Launch Complex 39B, arriving on March 18.

Engineers will capture as much data as possible on the performance of all the systems that are part of the rocket, the spacecraft, the ground systems used for launch, and on the platform for propellant loading and other activities. Once all rocket and spacecraft systems are inspected, the 98-meter-tall rocket is scheduled for wet test testing, which is scheduled for about two weeks after it arrives at 39B.

The last remaining steps before launch include inspection of every part of the rocket and spacecraft, including physical entry of different SLS components, and step-by-step ensuring SLS and Orion are ready for the journey to the pad. launch. As inspections continue, Kennedy’s ground systems team is working to remove equipment and scaffolding from the rocket and will continue

Artemis 1 is the first unmanned mission of the SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft, which is targeting a six-day round-trip mission around the Moon. It is a preliminary step to already manned missions, whose ultimate goal is to put humans back on the lunar surface. NASA offers the public the possibility of registering their names in a flash memory that will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft.