FLORIDA – NASA is planning to conduct the Artemis I Wet Dress Rehearsal of the Orion spacecraft to practice what needs to be done prior to its launch date.
The rehearsal is meant to test some specific objectives that are necessary for a successful launch operation. NASA says this operation has never been done before, which makes this important for them to help teams learn and improve their current systems.
“The rehearsal will run the Artemis I launch team through operations to load propellant into the rocket’s tanks, conduct a full launch countdown, demonstrate the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and also drain the tanks to give them an opportunity to practice the timelines and procedures they will use for launch,” according to a release.
“Teams will then load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or super cold, propellants, including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, into the rocket at the launch pad on the mobile launcher according to the detailed timeline they will use on the actual launch day. They will practice every phase of the countdown, including weather briefings, pre-planned holds in the countdown, conditioning and replenishing the propellants as needed, and validation checks.”
NASA noted that it is still far from an actual launch with humans.
The target window for the wet dress is set at 1:40 p.m. Monday, followed by a news conference on Tuesday to discuss how the rehearsal went.
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