NASA’s Space Launch System Mega-Rocket, Orion Spacecraft Roll to Launch Pad for Artemis I Mission
The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrived at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B about 7:30 a.m. EDT on Aug. 17, 2022 following a nearly 10-hour trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath
By Bob Granath
On the evening of Aug. 16, 2022, the most powerful rocket ever built once again rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. But this time, it’s for real. The destination is the Moon.
The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis I began moving out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9:55 p.m. following a brief delay due to lighting in the area. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath
With all testing complete, preparations are underway for liftoff scheduled for between 8:33 a.m. and 10:33 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2022. The Space Launch System (SLS) will send an Orion spacecraft on a mission well beyond the Moon paving the way for landing the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.
“For all of us that gaze up at the Moon, dreaming of the day humankind will return to the lunar surface, we are here. We are going back and that journey begins with Artemis I.”
— Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator
As the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft roll out of the Vehicle Assembly Building, it is under the watchful eyes of Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team at their consoles in a Firing Room of the Launch Control Center to the left of the mobile launcher indicated by the lighted windows. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath
“This is a very exciting time.”
— Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis I Launch Director
The Orion spacecraft weighs 72,000 pounds and can carry a crew of two to six. The crew module and service module together measure 26.7 feet in height. With the launch escape system added, the height is 50 feet. Lockheed Martin builds the crew module with the service module provided by the European Space Agency. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath
For Artemis 1, an Orion spacecraft will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. The capsule will remain in space longer than any vehicle designed for astronauts without docking to a space station and travel farther from Earth than any previous human-rated spacecraft.
The SLS rocket sits atop a mobile launcher that is carried by the crawler/transporter that creeps along at the maximum speed of one mile per hour. Operated by Test and Operations Support Contractor, Jacobs, the crawler/transporter is 131 feet long and 114 feet wide, the size of a regulation baseball infield. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath
During the Space Shuttle Program, the vehicle was held to the mobile launcher platform by eight bolts, four for each solid rocket booster (SRB). Pyrotechnics broke the nuts in half, dropping the bolts thus releasing the shuttle at T-zero for liftoff. For the Space Launch System (SLS), the vehicle stabilizer system near the top of the core stage will release at T-zero to release the vehicle. The twin SRBs for the SLS rocket are mounted, but not bolted, on vehicle support posts. Left photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath, illustration on the right: NASA
The 322-foot-tall Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft rolls toward Launch Complex 39B and its target, the Moon, seen on the horizon. Fully fueled, the SLS weighs 5.74 million pounds and generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath
