Almost a day after starting the countdown, NASA trusts in its technology and good weather to launch its . The chances that the weather will not prevent takeoff remain at 80%, as explained today by two of the technical managers of the mission. “There are 29 hours left to launch and I see many smiling faces among all the teams,” explained Jeff Spaulding, test director of the US space agency.
Technicians are preparing everything to begin filling the fuel tanks first thing Wednesday morning. It will be the key moment in which to be aware of possible leaks. Meanwhile, the astronauts will have breakfast after 9:45 in the morning and will prepare for their last trip on Earth before going to the Moon: they will go to take-off platform 39B, where the more than 30-story high tower of the , the most powerful rocket in history, awaits them.
The four, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, will make a round trip to the Moon and back without landing. They will spend hours observing the hidden side of the satellite, seeing with their eyes geographical features that have never been seen by humans before. This flight is a general test of the critical survival systems to send landing missions to the satellite in 2028 and of this body establishing inhabited settlements at its hostile South Pole, which will begin to operate in about three years, according to plans recently drawn up by NASA.
The agency’s head of meteorology, Mark Burger, has detailed what the main concerns are regarding the weather in the coming days. On Wednesday there is some chance of rain in the late afternoon (takeoff is scheduled for 6:24 p.m. local time) and, above all, cloud systems that could be dangerous if lightning strikes the rocket or the ship.
In any case, the risk is low, between 5% and 10%, he assured. If takeoff is delayed until Thursday, the weather would be a little worse, with a little more wind and more cloudiness.
It is important to keep in mind that the 80% probability is for the entire launch window of each day, which lasts two hours, so the chances of launching successfully at one time or another within that period are much greater.
If it is not possible to launch on Wednesday or Thursday, we would probably have to wait until Saturday, due to the needs to fill the tanks with fuel, which would already lead the agency into much more delicate terrain, since the weather is expected to worsen and be much more humid. The chances of the weather ruining the launch would now be one in three, Burger detailed.
Another point of attention is solar activity. About 24 hours ago, the Sun spit out a flare that, fortunately, was not coming directly toward Earth. NASA continues to monitor it, although it believes that the situation is not serious, Burger said.
The countdown started yesterday at 4:44 local time, about 50 hours from the scheduled launch time. During Tuesday, the batteries of the Orion spacecraft were turned on and charged, then the main stage of the SLS rocket and then the upper stage.
The real countdown
One of the key moments will come early Wednesday morning. It will then be when the technical teams decide whether to start filling the hydrogen fuel tanks and then liquid oxygen. There are thousands of tons of these elements cooled to more than 200 below zero. Filling will begin at a slow speed and then, if all goes well, it will gain speed.
Six hours before takeoff, the four crew members receive the latest weather report. Then, they leave for the launch pad, climb the launch tower and board the Orion capsule about four hours before liftoff. About forty minutes before the rocket starts, the countdown stops for half an hour to carry out different checks and the mission director consults with all the teams to see if they are ready to launch. Ten minutes before takeoff, the countdown resumes.
It is at this moment, Spaulding said, that the launch “is already starting to become a reality.” “But it is really a minute before takeoff when I personally will be very convinced that we are going to the Moon,” he assured.
The SLS rocket will take about eight minutes to escape Earth’s gravity and put the four crew members of the Artemis 2 into Earth orbit. After removing their pressurized suits, they will begin a long period of 24 hours in which they will continue orbiting our planet while testing that all the systems are working correctly, especially those that have to provide them with air, water and air conditioning on their journey. If all goes well, during the second day of the mission, the thrusters will ignite and the Orion spacecraft will shoot toward the Moon. It’s what NASA calls translunar injection, which means the astronauts go
