Artemis updates: NASA launches massive moon rocket from Kennedy Space Center
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — NASA put on a light show and shook the Earth sending the Artemis I mission on a record-breaking launch from Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning.
The sky turned from dark to light as the Space Launch System blasted out 8.8 million pounds of thrust to become the most powerful rocket to ever launch into space.
Cheers washed across the space center, but fell to a deferential silence as the roar of the engines cracked through the air to a deafening roar. The soundwave brought a forceful punch to the ears, and people could feel it in their chest as the rocket continued to burn upward pulling close in the eastern sky to the waning moon.
“That’s the biggest flame I’ve ever seen,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The most acoustical shockwave that I had ever experienced. ... I’m telling you, you definitely knew that there was energy being expended.”
Ahead of launch, NASA astronaut Stan Love had a giddy smile when thinking about the thrust would do to his senses come launch time.
“That’s why I’m here,” he said noting the Saturn V and space shuttles were only around 7.5 million pounds of thrust. “You’ll see engines light. There’ll be a couple of seconds before the sound gets to you. And then it will vibrate the air in your chest like you’re in front of the Marshall [amplifier] stacks at a major concert.”
The leadup to launch stayed issue-free for the majority of tanking procedures that began Tuesday afternoon, but soon after 10 p.m., yet another liquid hydrogen leak headache came forth coupled with a malfunctioning radar down range. Liquid hydrogen leaks had led to previous scrubs of launch attempts in August and September as well as problems during wet dress rehearsals in the spring.
But teams overcame Tuesday night’s problems so it only forced a 43-minute delay into the two-hour window that opened at 1:04 a.m.
NASA halted some tanking of liquid hydrogen to send technicians to the launch pad to tighten some bolts on the mobile launcher while the U.S. Space Force sent personnel out to the downrange radar site to replace an ethernet switch required for the radar to be able to send a signal to the rocket in case it needed to self-destruct.
“For once I might be speechless,” said NASA launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson to her team at KSC. “This is your moment. ... You are part of a first. We are all part of something incredibly special, the first launch of Artemis, the first step of returning our country to the moon and on to Mars. ... The harder the climb, the better the view. We showed the Space Coast tonight what a beautiful view it is.”
Already the two solid rocket boosters and the core stage have done their job, pushing the Orion spacecraft up into low-Earth orbit.
The spacecraft then deployed its solar array wings, and around 2:39 a.m. began a maneuver to raise its altitude before beginning an 18-minute trans-lunar injection burn courtesy of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage to send Orion away from low-Earth orbit on its way to the moon.
Orion will spend 25 1/2 days with several orbits around the moon that will bring as close as 80 miles from its surface, and as far away as 40,000 miles, which will be about 268,000 miles from Earth, the farthest away any human-rated spacecraft has ever flown.
It’s slated to return to Earth splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11. Its return trip will bring it in hot, faster than any other human-rated spacecraft hitting Mach 32 around 24,500 mph generating heat near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The mission’s main objective is to prove Orion can safely transport humans on future missions. Artemis II is currently slated for as early as May 2024, which will bring four astronauts also on an orbital lunar mission. Artemis III is slated for as early as 2025, and that mission looks to return humans, including the first woman, back to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The Artemis program was announced in 2012 out of the ashes of the canceled Constellation program. The first launch was originally targeting 2016 with a cost expected to be only $500,000, but now comes more than eight years later with costs that have ballooned to $4.1 billion, according to estimates by a November 2021 audit for NASA’s Office of the Inspector General.
The cost of the first four Artemis missions are projected to top $93 billion, but the bevy of commercial contractors including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne have promised 30% to 50% cost cuts for missions beyond Artemis IV.
Check back for live updates.
New T-0 time is 1:47 a.m.
The mission management team perform their polling for readiness for launch.
NASA test director Jeff Spaulding said there were “no constraints to launch.”
“At this time I give you a go to resume count and launch Artemis I,” said NASA launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.
Richard Tribou
Radar problem work complete, test underway | 1:04 a.m. Wednesday
The Space Force group running the Eastern Range has to complete an open-loop test of a down-range radar site to confirm it can send a signal that would be accepted by the rocket’s flight termination system in the event a self-destruct command needs to be implemented.
Until that signal capability is confirmed, the Eastern Range is a “no go” for launch.
The issue of the radar site not working arose before midnight and personnel with Space Launch Delta 45, which runs the Eastern Range, implemented the fix that required the changeout of an ethernet switch. The work was completed by 12:30 a.m., but the confirmation of the fix is still required.
“Based on the math and where we are, it looks like we are slipping into the window,” said Derrol Nail with NASA communications. He later confirmed that saying the flight director said for now, the 30-minute hold is being extended “indefinitely” into the two-hour window.
A “go, no-go” poll is supposed to happen 15 minutes out before going into the 10-minute terminal count, but that new T-0 time won’t be set until the Space Force confirms its radar issue has been fixed.
As far as the delays in cryogenic fuel loading, the upper stage is now topping off its liquid hydrogen supply, and will soon be in replenishment mode to complete the load of both liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in both the core stage and upper stage needed for launch.
A leak detected earlier in the night on a replenish valve located on the mobile launcher that required NASA to shut down the LH2 flow and allow technicians to head to the launch pad to tighten nuts, which ultimately proved successful.
Richard Tribou
Cryo loads into SLS nearly complete, problem switch at radar site replaced | 12:35 a.m. Wednesday
The upper stage is at 75% filled for liquid hydrogen, the final cryogenic fill action needed before launch. The upper stage liquid oxygen tank as well as both LOX and LH2 core stage tanks are full and in replenish mode.
The countdown clock is set at T-10 minutes, having entered a planned 30-minute hold at 12:24 a.m.
“Currently the launch team is trying to evaluate how much of a delay may result from some issues that we’ve been facing over the past hour,” said Nail.
The Eastern Range reported that an ethernet switch on a down-range radar site has been switched, but NASA needs for the Range to reverify the fix before they would be “go” for launch.
Nail said because of the remaining cryogenic load left on the rocket and the work from the Eastern Range on its radar site, it is likely the T-0 launch time would slip into the two-hour window as opposed to being able to launch right at 1:04 a.m.
Richard Tribou
Pad work fixed at site; Space Force working on radar fix | 11:58 p.m. Tuesday
The work done by the “red crew” on a replenish valve on the mobile launcher has worked with no further leaks detected after NASA restarted liquid hydrogen fueling on the core stage.
That tank is back to 100% full and in replenish mode while the remaining LH2 needed is being loaded into the upper stage.
The Space Force teams that run the Eastern Range, over which the rocket will launch, are in the midst of replacing a bad ethernet switch at a radar site needed to track the launch. Work originally was estimated to take 70 minutes, but NASA reported the Range Safety Officer said it will take a little longer as the switch has to be reverified.
Until that happens, the Range is “no go” for launch.
Richard Tribou
NASA back to flowing liquid hydrogen; Eastern Range radar site malfunctioning | 11:40 p.m.
After more than an hour pause in fueling operations, NASA has continued to flow liquid hydrogen back into the core and will soon get back to refilling the upper stage.
Liquid oxygen on both core and upper stages is already at 100% and in replenishment mode, meaning the gas is continuously added to the rocket as the supercooled gas is burned off.
Also, teams are completing a 90-minute bleed of the LH2 into the four RS-25 engines at the base of the core stage that had to be paused because of the attempted fix on the leak on a replenish valve on the mobile launcher.
NASA has not updated whether or not the fix was adequate, but earlier, the valve was showing intermittent leaks that exceeded NASA requirements for launch.
Another issue that has arisen late Tuesday is from the Space Force, which runs the Eastern Range.
The Range informed NASA that at the moment, they are “no go” because of a loss of signal on a radar site. Teams with the Space Launch Delta 45 are working to remedy the issue before the opening of the two-hour launch window at 1:04 a.m.
The Range Safety Officer reported it was a bad ethernet switch that is being changed out so it can be reverified, noting that work would take about 70 minutes.
Richard Tribou
Techs complete work at pad | 11:10 p.m.
A team spent an hour at the launch pad to address a liquid hydrogen leak, and NASA is now assessing if their work to tighten nuts on a replenish valve on the mobile launcher was successful.
The core stage’s LH2 tank, which had to have its replenishment flow shut down to allow the human intervention at the pad, fell back to 94% full.
The pause also meant a planned 90-minute engine bleed to cool the four RS-25 engines at the base of the Space Launch System core stage will have to be cut in half to 45 minutes.
Richard Tribou
Techs at launch pad to fix leak | 10:47 p.m.
A team of two technicians on the “Red Crew” drove out to Launch Pad 39-B with a plan to tighten nuts on a replenish valve that is on the side of the mobile launcher.
The valve had been showing intermittent leaks that exceeded NASA launch criteria, forcing a halt to the replenishment of liquid hydrogen to the core stage.
The crew has surpassed the 15 minutes it expected to be on site for the fix having already been at the site since 10:22. The team has performed tightening work, stepped away from the site to allow valves to be cycled to see if the leaks have improved, and then had to go back in at least twice since arriving.
The replenishment flow of liquid hydrogen has stopped as well as the bleed flow at the bottom of the core stage into the four RS-25 engines that keep them cool and conditioned for the eventual launch. Replenishment flow of liquid oxygen had continued farther up the SLS.
At launch, each RS-25 will burn through 15,000 gallons of propellant every second.
Richard Tribou
Hydrogen leak shows up | 9:51 p.m.
NASA was nearly finished with loading fuel on both the core and upper stages of the Space Launch System when an intermittent liquid hydrogen leak was detected on a core stage replenish valve.
The valve is located in the mobile launcher (ML) and NASA decided to halt tanking operations at least on the core stage so what is known as the “Red Crew” could venture out to Launch Pad 39-B with a plan of “torqueing down the packing nuts at the base of the ML,” according to Derrol Nail with NASA communications.
“This is inside the blast danger area and it is considered a hazardous operation,” Nail said.
Two technicians with a safety lead will head to the pad in two vehicles to perform the operation which should take about 15 minutes.
The leak had increased over the 1% threshold NASA allows, so the replenish mode of core stage on LH2 has stopped.
Liquid hydrogen leaks have given NASA headaches during both previous launch attempts as well as during its wet dress rehearsals.
Richard Tribou
Hydrogen leak shows up | 9:27 p.m.
NASA was nearly finished with loading fuel on both the core and upper stages of the Space Launch System when an intermittent liquid hydrogen leak was detected on a core stage replenish valve.
The valve is located in the mobile launcher (ML) and NASA decided to halt tanking operations at least on the core stage so what is known as the “Red Crew” could venture out to Launch Pad 39-B with a plan of “torqueing down the packing nuts at the base of the ML,” according to Derrol Nail with NASA communications.
The leak had increased over the 1% threshold NASA allows, so the replenish mode of core stage on LH2 has stopped.
Liquid hydrogen leaks have given NASA headaches during both previous launch attempts as well as during its wet dress rehearsals.
Richard Tribou
Rocket watchers can expect to feel the thrust | 9:23 p.m.
NASA astronaut Stan Love had a giddy smile when thinking about what 8.8 million pounds of thrust will do to his senses come launch time.
“That’s why I’m here,” he said noting the Saturn V and space shuttles were only around 7.5 million pounds of thrust. “You’ll see engines light. There’ll be a couple of seconds before the sound gets to you. And then it will vibrate the air in your chest like you’re in front of the Marshall [amplifier] stacks at a major concert.”
He said it’s the most powerful rocket the U.S. has ever flown, noting the Soviet Union’s N1 rocket remains the most powerful to launch, but whispered, “none of them went very far.”
“Hopefully this will go further, so it is going to be like nothing United States has ever known,” he said. “And the sensation and the spectacle is going to be amazing. For me personally I’ve been working on since it was a baby. And as long as it takes us to launch I will be trying to be here for that launch to see my baby fly.”
Richard Tribou
Weather improves for launch | 8:57 p.m.
Because cloud cover is thinning over Kennedy Space Center, odds for weather have improved from 80% to 90% expected good conditions.
Meanwhile, the liquid oxygen tank on the upper stage has completed while continuing to tank the liquid hydrogen on the upper stage. The core stage fill was completed more than an hour previous.
Core stage tanking at 100% | 7:36 p.m.
The biggest step in loading fuel into the rocket was completed with just under 5 1/2 hours before liftoff.
NASA teams reached 100% capacity for the liquid oxygen tank about an hour after reaching that level on the larger liquid hydrogen tank.
Now teams are topping off the LOX tank and will then move into replenish mode.
Next up will be filling the LOX and LH2 on the smaller tanks for the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that sits under the Orion space capsule. It has one RL-10 engine that will be used to push Orion out of low-Earth orbit on a trans-lunar injection that will be burned while it’s over the Pacific Ocean before Orion completes one orbit of the Earth after launch.
The ICPS upper stage holds 10,000 pounds of LH2 and 53,000 pounds of LOX.
Richard Tribou
Artemis I by the numbers | 6:54 p.m.
The 8.8 million pounds of thrust on launch will best that of the close to 7.9 million pounds produced by the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo era. It would be the most powerful rocket to ever launch into space from Earth getting 2 million pounds of thrust from the four RS-25 engines built by Aerojet Rocketdyne at the base of the Boeing built core stage that were converted from the Space Shuttle Program, and about 3.4 million pounds of thrust from each of the two solid rocket boosters built by Northrop Grumman.
The core stage and side boosters will fall away revealing the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage built by United Launch Alliance and will use an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL-10 engine using 24,750 pounds of thrust to get the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft into its trans-lunar injection moving it out of low-Earth orbit.
On its 25 1/2-day mission, Orion will travel more than 1.4 million miles before its return on Dec. 11.
At its closest approach to the moon, Orion will come just under 80 miles from the surface.
Its farthest distance away from the moon will be more than 40,000 miles beyond on Nov. 28 when it reaches 268,553 miles away from Earth. Two days previous, Orion will have broken the record for human-rated spacecraft beating Apollo 13′s farthest distance from Earth that was set in 1970 when it traveled 249,205 miles away from Earth.
That distance will mean it will come in hot on its return to Earth traveling at mach 32 around 24,500 mph producing re-entry temperatures around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Richard Tribou
Liquid hydrogen tank full, liquid oxygen fill continues | 6:41 p.m.
The 537,000-gallon liquid hydrogen tank on the SLS core stage has been filled and NASA managers have moved into replenish mode for the larger of the two cryogenic tanks.
The 196,000-gallon liquid oxygen tank is 66% full with its completion expected in about an hour.
Richard Tribou
Kickstart bleed test complete amid fast-fill operations | 6:02 p.m.
“Things look really good right now,” said Jeremy Graeber, assistant launch director for Artemis I.
There’s still about 90 minutes left on fast fill of LH2 and 2 1/2 hours for LOX, but the kickstart bleed test during which LH2 is sent out into the four RS-25 engines to show they can cool them down ahead of launch has been completed.
There was about a 4% gas leak found during the process, but that number came down and fell within constraints.
“This team has done a fantastic job working through each of the different wet dress rehearsals and launch attempts,” Graeber said noting that it has seen four wet dress rehearsals and two previous launch attempts. So at KSC, this is the seventh time teams have loaded fuel into the rocket.
The most recent was a tanking test done after the last scrub on the launch pad.
“That demonstrated a lot of updated procedures to deal with the challenges that we had seen previously and this team has really been outstanding finding the right sequencing, basically keeping everything in a very tight box to ensure that we manage through any potential issues and so far, everything that they’ve put in place has has been going extremely well,” he said.
By 6 p.m., the LOX fill was at 43% while the LH2 was at 58% with no major issues.
Richard Tribou
LOX into fast fill for core stage | 4:52 p.m.
NASA has finished slow fill of liquid oxygen, and moved into fast fill on the way to load 196,000 gallons into the core stage. Liquid hydrogen remains in slow fill, and will for another 55 minutes.
NASA will not move past 50% of LOX fill unless there is at least 5% of LH2 filled.
The tanks for the lighter LH2 at the base of the core stage about the RS-25 engines is larger at 537,000 gallons.
The fast fill for LOX should take just under three hours with LH2 fast fill slated to actually finish before the LOX.
After the tanks are full, NASA will perform what is called an engine bleed kick start, during which they make sure the superchilled LH2 properly flows into the four engines so that they can be cooled down and not shocked for when the propellants are mixed and begin flowing through the engines at launch.
After the kick start, teams will top off the propellants in the core stage and move onto the smaller propellant loading for the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), which is a stage that will be used to propel the Orion spacecraft on its trans-lunar injections (TLI), moving it out of low-Earth orbit onto its way to the moon.
Richard Tribou
Tanking begins on core stage | 4:32 p.m.
NASA has begun slow fill of both liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) on the core stage.
Teams need to load 537,000 gallon of LH2 and 196,000 gallons of LOX for launch. Unlike the previous launch attempts, NASA will begin loading both LOX and LH2 at the same time as part of a “kinder, gentler” approach that seeks to avoid a repeat of fuel line leaks during loading.
Slow fill starts with about 500 gallons per minute. The lighter LH2 uses pressure to move the fuel while the more dense LOX uses pumps. The slow fill portion runs about 15 minutes for LOX while the LH2 slow fill takes about 70 minutes.
Previous launch attempts have seen LH2 leaks that required fueling to halt, have the lines warmed up and rechilled in an attempt to reset the seals on the lines that lead from the mobile launcher into the core stage. One of the launch attempts had to be scrubbed because teams could not get the leak to stop.
The reason behind that leak was never resolved beyond NASA teams committing to the process of slower loading, and if a leak appears, to move forward with repeated attempts to reseal the lines. That same phenomenon was seen in a full tanking test done at the launch pad after the last scrub, and the process that time worked allowing for teams to run through 100% of the testing that they were never able to accomplish during wet dress rehearsals in the spring that were also stymied by LH2 leaks.
Richard Tribou
LOX chilldown complete, LH2 chilldown continues | 4:10 p.m.
NASA will soon begin the six-hour process of filling the cryogenic fuel for the SLS core and upper stages.
Liquid oxygen (LOX) is minus 297 degrees Fahrenheit and the liquid hydrogen (LH2) is minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit.
Richard Tribou
Launch weather down to 80% chance for good conditions | 3:36 p.m.
The mission management team met for only 14 minutes ahead of the decision with “absolutely fantastic” weather for tanking, according to Mark Burger, the weather officer for Space Launch Delta 45.
The forecast for the launch window though reduced from 90% to 80% chance for good conditions.
The areas of concern are the thick cloud layer rule and the cumulus cloud rule.
Richard Tribou
NASA set to begin fueling of core stage | 3:30 p.m.
It’s fill’er up time as NASA needs to begin the slow process of filling the Space Launch System rocket with cryogenic fuel. NASA TV is airing commentary beginning at 3:30 of the event, which in the end will need to load 537,000 gallon of liquid hydrogen (LH2) and 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (LOX) into the core and upper stages.
On launch the fuel will run through four RS-25 engines converted from the Space Shuttle Program that power the core stage. When combined with the two solid rocket boosters, the SLS will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust, which if it lifts off will make it the most powerful rocket to ever launch from Earth.
Coverage of the cryogenic fueling of the SLS began on NASA TV at 3:30.
NASA launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson gave the go for tanking at 3:22 p.m.
The timeline calls for tanking with 9 hours 40 minutes ahead of launch, and if it’s “go” then the core stage LOX and LH2 transfer lines will begin chilldown. LOX is minus 297 degrees Fahrenheit and the LH2 is minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit.
Slow fill of LH2 would begin around 4:20 p.m. followed 25 minutes later by LOX slow fill.
“Things are looking good. Spirits are high,” said Nail. “Folks are feeling good about the launch opportunity today.”
Richard Tribou
Previous coverage:
After hurricanes, gas leaks and delays, NASA’s Artemis I moonshot ready for liftoff
Artemis I endures 100 mph gust on launch pad during Nicole landfall
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