NASA Starts Fueling Moon Rocket for Artemis 2 Test

NASA teams at Kennedy Space Center in Florida started loading fuel into the Space Launch System rocket on Monday morning for a key test called the wet dress rehearsal. This practice run comes ahead of the Artemis 2 mission, the first crewed flight to the moon since the Apollo days. The rocket sits on Launch Pad 39B, ready for teams to check every step of the launch process without firing the engines. Cold weather pushed the test back a few days, but now the countdown is on for a simulated launch window that evening.

Background

The Artemis program aims to send people back to the moon and set up a base there for future trips to Mars. Artemis 2 will be the first test with a crew on board. Four astronauts will fly around the moon without landing. They include NASA pilots Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. The crew has been in quarantine in Houston since late January, waiting for the green light to head to Florida.

The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the biggest rocket NASA has ever built for humans. It stands taller than the Statue of Liberty. On top sits the Orion capsule, built to carry the astronauts safely through space. The whole stack rolled out to the pad on January 17 after months of work inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Since then, engineers hooked up power lines, communication cables, and fuel lines called umbilicals. These keep the rocket stable and supplied until liftoff.

This wet dress rehearsal is the last big check before launch. Past tests faced leaks and other fixes, so NASA wants everything perfect. Cold winds and below-freezing temperatures delayed the start from last week. The original plan had the countdown begin earlier, but weather forced a shift. Now, the earliest launch date slips to February 8 at the soonest.

Key Details

Teams kicked off the countdown on Saturday evening, about 48 hours before the main test window. By Monday at 11:25 a.m. Eastern time, Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and mission managers gave the go-ahead for tanking. That's when they start pumping in the cold fuels.

First, workers cleared non-essential people from the pad as the sun came up. They finished hooking up the umbilicals, which carry power, data, and fuel. Then came a step to purge the rocket with gaseous nitrogen. This clears out air and cuts fire risks by protecting the systems inside.

The fueling uses cryogenic propellants, super-cold liquids that boil off fast. Liquid hydrogen goes into the core stage tanks, along with liquid oxygen. Teams fill them slowly, starting nine hours and 25 minutes before the fake liftoff time. They check for leaks and top off as vapors escape. The core stage holds most of the fuel, over 700,000 gallons in total for the full load.

Test Timeline

The simulated launch window opens at 9 p.m. Eastern on Monday, which is 2 a.m. UTC on Tuesday. Teams run the full countdown, hit a mock T-minus zero, then recycle the clock. They practice holding at T-minus 10 minutes and go again until T-minus 30 seconds. After that, they drain the tanks to test scrub procedures, in case real launch day has issues. The whole thing might stretch to 1 a.m. Tuesday.

NASA runs live streams around the clock. One shows the rocket on the pad, another focuses on the test activities. Weather teams from the U.S. Space Force watch conditions, but no big problems block tanking today.

"At approximately 11:25 a.m. EST, the Artemis launch director, in coordination with the mission management team chair, gave the ‘go’ to begin loading cryogenic liquid propellant into the SLS rocket for wet dress rehearsal." – NASA update

Once done, leaders will review data. If all goes well, they call the crew to Florida. A news conference on Tuesday at noon Eastern will share early results. Speakers include top NASA officials like Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya and Artemis II Mission Management Team chair John Honeycutt.

What This Means

A smooth wet dress rehearsal clears the path for Artemis 2 to lift off soon. Success means the rocket handles fuel loads, countdowns, and scrubs just like on launch day. It builds confidence in the ground teams who run the show from control rooms.

If problems pop up, NASA might roll the rocket back to the assembly building for fixes. That would push launch dates further. The crew stays ready in Houston either way. Artemis 2 tests Orion's life support, navigation, and return through Earth's atmosphere. The flight loops the moon's far side, farther than humans have gone before, then splashes down in the Pacific.

This mission paves the way for Artemis 3, which plans a moon landing. Delays here ripple to the full program timeline. Cold weather tests pads against real launch risks too. Every step checks safety for the four astronauts who will ride this beast into space.

Teams keep a close eye on boil-off rates and tank pressures. They practice recycling the countdown multiple times. Draining the propellants at the end makes sure they can safely stop if needed. All this practice turns months of prep into muscle memory for the real thing.

NASA built SLS to replace the space shuttle fleet. Orion draws from Apollo tech but adds modern computers and heat shields for deep space. The mission flies no cargo beyond the crew, focusing on proving the systems work. Ground crews number in the hundreds, from engineers to weather spotters.

Past Artemis tests, like the uncrewed Artemis 1 in 2022, succeeded after fixes. Wet rehearsals for that flight caught issues early. Now, with people on board next, stakes run higher. Success here means America leads the return to the moon, partnering with Canada, Europe, and Japan.