NASA is expected to set a launch date after evaluating the results of the countdown test.
NASA kicked off a two-day dress rehearsal countdown for its giant Space Launch System moon rocket on Friday, a major milestone that will culminate Sunday when engineers load it up with more than 750,000 gallons of supercold rocket fuel to test launch-day procedures.
NASA's Space Launch System moon rocket atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center shortly after roll out on March 18. Engineers started a dress-rehearsal countdown Friday that will culminate with fuel loading Sunday morning in the rocket's final major test before its maiden launch.to launch pad 39B on March 18, cheered on by thousands of Kennedy Space Center workers and their family members.
While NASA normally carries out countdowns in the open, allowing reporters to listen in to firing room chatter and to follow along with detailed timelines, the agency is limiting realtime updates on the dress rehearsal to its social media channels and blog posts, ostensibly to make sure export control restrictions are not violated.
Whitmeyer declined to say what might make an SLS countdown any different from that of a space shuttle, which was carried out in the open, using virtually identical engines, the same propellants and similar tanks.The initial hours of the countdown called for battery charging, engine preps, ground power system configuration, sound suppression water system loading and other tasks familiar from shuttle operations.
As the countdown continues, engineers will review data, carry out leak tests and other checks to make sure they can control the flow of propellants as required. At that point, engineers will begin"safing" the rocket, draining the propellant tanks and beginning work to ready the SLS and its mobile launch stand for rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
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