The core stage of NASA's Space Launch System rocket will be integrated with the launch-vehicle stage in June 2021.
The Space Launch System rocket will be rolled out to the launch pad in February.
Engineers and technicians successfully removed a faulty engine controller from one of the four main engines that power the massive rocket, setting the new date. An engine controller is a flight computer that is used to communicate between the engine and the rocket.
NASA engineers, along with contractor teams who have built various components of the rocket, are working to complete all remaining SLS preflight diagnostic tests and hardware close-outs before rolling the fully stacked rocket to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
The rocket and its ground systems will have a wet dress rehearsal after it reaches the pad. The operation will provide a test of the launch vehicle's hardware, ground systems and software. The vehicle will be fully fueled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and a timer will be used to clock the time.
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This is the first time that the interface between the rocket, spacecraft, and ground systems have been tested in this way. Issues with new vehicles have occurred in the past. NASA wants to do a wet dress test in February.
After the wet dress test, the SLS rocket will return to the Vehicle Assembly Building for the installation of some fireworks for the actual launch.
NASA had planned to conduct a wet dress rehearsal in early January in order to preserve an opportunity to launch during a two week window in February. NASA has lost six to eight weeks of schedule before they get to the wet dress test.
NASA said it will set a target launch date after a successful wet dress rehearsal. SLS might make its launch window in April. May probably offers the earliest launch opportunity. The SLS rocket and NASA's uncrewed Artemis I mission around the Moon could be launched in the summer of 2022.
Ars reported last August that the best-case scenario for launching the Artemis I mission is spring of next year, with summer being the more realistic target for a test flight of the heavy-lift rocket and Orion spacecraft. NASA was planning a launch before the end of the year.
