Updates Artemis II

Any bets....

I say March 8. February 6 is the first window, but such things never launch on the first. Feb 7 & 8 would be possible, but if something goes wrong on 6, they will take longer for troubleshooting. February 9 is Superbowl, so they will sure not do any bigger operations on that day or the day following unless their management is made of jerks. So, it will be March 6, but on that day and the next, weather will be bad, so they stand down from launch. Leaves March 8 as the first sweet spot.
 
Pretty nice graphic from artist Tony Bela...
 

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Not wanting to derail the thread, but there are 40 years between these images 🤯
G_6d_UTXMAAiGxY

 
Chilly O-rings?:cautious:
At least they have a launch escape system capability now. And pressure suits.

I wonder how the redesigned field joints fared after Challenger? Obviously no further accidents related to the O-rings occurred, but did they still have leaks? From what I understand they are reusing previously-flown SRB segments, but will not recover them after each flight.
 
At least they have a launch escape system capability now. And pressure suits.

I wonder how the redesigned field joints fared after Challenger? Obviously no further accidents related to the O-rings occurred, but did they still have leaks? From what I understand they are reusing previously-flown SRB segments, but will not recover them after each flight.

If I understand this one correctly:


The redesigned field joints were successful in keeping most of the burn-through in check, but it also required new O-ring materials to fully stop it.
 
Delay
With the conclusion of the wet dress rehearsal today, we are moving off the February launch window and targeting March for the earliest possible launch of Artemis II.

With more than three years between SLS launches, we fully anticipated encountering challenges. That is precisely why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal. These tests are designed to surface issues before flight and set up launch day with the highest probability of success.

During the test, teams worked through a liquid hydrogen leak at a core stage interface during tanking, which required pauses to warm hardware and adjust propellant flow. All core stage and interim cryogenic propulsion stage tanks were successfully filled, and teams conducted a terminal countdown to about T-5 minutes before the ground launch sequencer halted operations due to an increased leak rate. Additional factors included extended Orion closeout work, intermittent ground audio dropouts, and cold-weather impacts to some cameras, along with the successful demonstration of updated Orion closeout purge procedures to support safe crew operations.

As always, safety remains our top priority, for our astronauts, our workforce, our systems, and the public. As noted above, we will only launch when we believe we are as ready to undertake this historic mission.

This is just the beginning. It marks the start of an Artemis program that will evolve to support repeated and affordable missions to the Moon, in line with President Trump’s national space policy. Getting this mission right means returning to the Moon to stay and a future to Artemis 100 and beyond.

I want to thank the talented workforce at NASA, along with our industry and international partners, who are working tirelessly on this effort. The team will fully review the data, troubleshoot each issue encountered during WDR, make the necessary repairs, and return to testing. We expect to conduct an additional wet dress rehearsal and then target the March window.

We will continue to keep the public and the media informed as readiness progresses.
 
Not sure about how much of this is geoblocked and if you might require a proxy to watch this, but here is a German documentation about Artemis 2:

 
Complex machine. I was expecting some issue like that.
 
to support repeated and affordable missions to the Moon
I have to wonder, do they really think people are still buying that? There isn't a conceivable scenario in which Artemis is ever going to be "affordable"...
 
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