Artemis-1 is fully assembled and ready to go
The Artemis 1 mission is fully assembled, reviewed and ready to go – but just not this year, as the launch date has been pushed back to February 2022. The spacecraft was moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building on 19 October, and was fully ‘stacked’ a few days later, meaning all the component parts had been put into their launch configuration.
“The completion of stacking is a really important milestone. It shows that we’re in the home stretch towards the mission,” says Mike Sarafin, manager of the Artemis 1 mission.
Artemis 1 is the first stage of NASA’s endeavour to return humans to the surface of the Moon, as well as a test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule that will take them there. Though the launch was initially scheduled for later this year, it’s been pushed back to early 2022 to allow proper time for testing. The next major step is a ‘wet dress rehearsal’ planned for January, when the core stage is fuelled up and goes through countdown, stopping just short of ignition. www.nasa.gov