Artemis (NASA moon mission)

Northrop Grumman also planned to use the VAB and rest of the Launch Complex 39 infrastructure with its Omega rocket (including the Mobile Launcher, Crawler, and Pad 39B), but canceled the program after not winning a launch services competition. That leaves SLS as the sole user, as it was with Shuttle and Saturn before that. As was pointed out, SpaceX stacks their Falcon horizontally at Pad 39A and raises it up in the manner familiar from Soyuz launches.

I’ve been in the VAB a number of times for work, or more accurately to play glorified tourist while at KSC/CCAFS for work in other facilities. It’s really almost indescribably huge. Attached is a picture I took of one of the Orbiters waiting to be stacked. It was the middle of the night and I was just wandering around snooping in places for which I had numbers on my badge and nobody was bothering to kick me out, even though I had no particular business there at the moment. (The historic abandoned pads on the Cape side were especially good for this.) On a subsequent midnight visit I watched it dangling from the crane while the lift crew waited for the DC-9 sized pendulum’s swaying to damp out.

A few years ago, while supporting work in the LCC, I had a more somber visit to the VAB. The Columbia Recovery Room is now located there, and workers are brought there to inspect the remains of the Orbiter, contemplate the energies involved, and receive a forceful reminder of what is at stake working human space flight programs.
 

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From what I've heard it sounds like today's fueling and pressure tests went well. I imagine there's still some data analysis to do, but I'm getting a positive impression from the press statements.
 
I guess NASA confirmed today that the cryo-loading went very well and they would be all set to try a launch again next week, except now there's a hurricane approaching, so they're probably going to have to take Artemis back to the assembly building. That's such a shame, considering they were so successful at fixing the leaks with the rocket in place.
 
Not that well, as I understand it. They still had the leak problem and had to load LH2 at a very slow rate until the valves managed to seal up. And they don't really seem to know why they sealed up.
 
That seems to be the opposite of the impression I got from today's conference call. They said the leak was below constraints even before it went completely away, and basically said the rocket is fully launchable as early as Tuesday, barring weather conditions.
 
OK. I think I got my impression from Scott Manley.
Tuesday launch is off, as I understand it. Tropical storm.
If they don't get it off soon after it'll be November, when Elon is also planning to launch Starship to orbit.
 
NASA to Provide Update on Artemis I Moon Mission

NASA is planning to roll the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Friday, Nov. 4, at 12:01 a.m. ahead of launch.

The agency continues to target launch for Monday, Nov. 14, with liftoff planned during a 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. EST. A launch on Nov. 14 would result in a mission duration of about 25-and-a-half days with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Friday, Dec. 9.
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Another hurricane bearing down on Florida causing another delay:

NASA Prepares Rocket, Spacecraft Ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole, Re-targets Launch

NASA is continuing to monitor Tropical Storm Nicole and has decided to re-target a launch for the Artemis I mission for Wednesday, Nov. 16, pending safe conditions for employees to return to work, as well as inspections after the storm has passed. Adjusting the target launch date will allow the workforce to tend to the needs of their families and homes, and provide sufficient logistical time to get back into launch status following the storm.
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Apparently they are not rolling the rocket back to the Assembly Building. At least, not yet.
Based on expected weather conditions and options to roll back ahead of the storm, the agency determined Sunday evening the safest option for the launch hardware was to keep the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft secured at the pad.

The SLS rocket is designed to withstand 85 mph (74.4 knot) winds at the 60-foot level with structural margin. Current forecasts predict the greatest risks at the pad are high winds that are not expected to exceed the SLS design. The rocket is designed to withstand heavy rains at the launch pad and the spacecraft hatches have been secured to prevent water intrusion.
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Mike! said:
I would expect an airtight hatch to be waterproof as a side effect of the design at the very least.
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Assuming the hatches in question are the crew hatches on the Orion capsule: they're meant to have air on one side and vacuum on the other, not air on one side and water being blasted against the other. Even if the water doesn't get through the hatch, it could get into places it isn't supposed to be and might cause deterioration of materials, interference with sensors, undesired effects as it boils and freezes in vacuum, etc.

And the "spacecraft hatches" may also refer to access hatches elsewhere on the spacecraft, not normally required to be airtight.
 
They're into fuel loading for tonight's launch, and it sounds like the engine bleed was successful this time around, and hydrogen seepage from the filling lines is well within safe and expected levels.

If that bears out through the rest of the fueling, it would seem the primary issues of the previous launch attempts have been overcome.
 
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