NASA commenced a critical wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis 2 mission on Sunday, loading cryogenic propellants into the massive Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the agency prepares to send humans around the Moon for the first time in over five decades. The test, which simulates the complete launch countdown without an actual liftoff, represents the final major hurdle before four astronauts embark on humanity's return to lunar orbit.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson gave the go-ahead for fueling operations at 11:25 a.m. EST, with ground teams beginning to load liquid hydrogen at 12:15 p.m. followed by liquid oxygen ten minutes later. The 322-foot SLS rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA, requires approximately 730,000 gallons of super-cooled propellants to fill its core stage and upper stage tanks. Teams briefly paused liquid hydrogen loading at 1:32 p.m. for troubleshooting while continuing liquid oxygen operations.
The countdown began on January 31 and is scheduled to reach a simulated T-0 at 9:00 p.m. EST on February 2, with operations expected to conclude around 1:00 a.m. on February 3. A successful completion would clear the way for the actual launch, with NASA's current target window opening February 8-11 for the approximately 10-day mission that will carry astronauts farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled.
The Artemis 2 crew includes commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. The mission will achieve multiple historic firsts: Glover will become the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit, Koch will be the first woman to venture to lunar distance, and Hansen will be the first non-American to leave Earth orbit. Their trajectory will surpass the Apollo 13 record of 248,655 miles from Earth, set during that mission's emergency return in 1970.
The SLS rocket was rolled out to Launch Pad 39B on January 17 after being stacked inside the Vehicle Assembly Building throughout late 2025. Artemis 2 follows the successful uncrewed Artemis 1 mission that orbited the Moon in late 2022, testing the Orion spacecraft that will carry the crew. NASA's Artemis program aims to establish a sustainable human presence at the Moon while preparing for eventual crewed missions to Mars, marking a new era of deep space exploration after more than half a century since the final Apollo landing.
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