CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After passing the most recent rocket fuelling test, NASA hopes to launch humans to the moon in March.
Two weeks before the first planned launch opportunity on March 6, officials made the announcement on Friday.
NASA's exploration systems development leader, Lori Glaze, stated, "This is really getting real, and it's time to get serious and start getting excited."
Between the first countdown rehearsal, which was interrupted by hydrogen leaks earlier this month, and the second test, which was finished Thursday night with very minimal seepage, launch teams made "significant progress," according to administrator Jared Isaacman.
Isaacman said on the social media site X that the test was "a big step toward America's return to the lunar environment." Over fifty years have passed since the last time astronauts visited the moon.
Although there is still more work to be done at the pad, authorities said they are certain they will be prepared to launch four astronauts from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on the Artemis II lunar fly-around as early as March 6. The three Americans and one Canadian were getting ready to enter the required two-week health quarantine in Houston on Friday night in order to have options.
Only five days remain in March for the space agency to put the crew on board the Space Launch System rocket before it shuts down until the end of April. Opportunities in February were lost when the first fuelling demonstration resulted in the hazardous discharge of liquid hydrogen.
The successful rerun on Thursday was made possible by technicians replacing two seals. The clocks for the countdown reached the desired 29-second point.
According to officials, there were a few minor scratches on the removed Teflon seals but nothing else that would have contributed to the significant leak.
Additionally, some moisture was discovered in the region, which might have exacerbated the issue. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson reported that the adjustments were successful and that hardly any leaks were found.
Alongside launch controllers, Commander Reid Wiseman and two members of his crew kept an eye on Thursday's operation. Since Apollo 17 ended NASA's first moon exploration mission in 1972, the astronauts will be the first to fly to the moon.
The flight readiness evaluation, which is planned for late next week, is still pending. The astronauts will return to Kennedy for a genuine countdown at the start of March if all goes according to plan.
Glaze stated, "I get really excited every night when I look up at the moon and see it because I can really feel she's calling us and we're ready."
For the first time, astronauts will soar atop the 322-foot (98-meter) SLS rocket during the almost 10-day journey, which is regarded as a test flight. No one was on board the 2022 SLS flight, which was the only other one.
In a few years, Artemis III, the series' next mission, will try to land two men close to the moon's south pole.
Glaze predicted that it would take months or even a year before NASA chooses the first moon-landing crew because of all the elements that are still up in the air for that mission, such as whether Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin or Elon Musk's SpaceX will supply the lunar lander.
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