NASA begins critical final test on mega Moon rocket

NASA will begin a critical two-day-long test of its giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Friday, as the agency gears up to return humans to the Moon.

It is the final major test before the Artemis-1 mission this summer, an uncrewed lunar flight that will eventually be followed by boots on the ground.

Senior NASA official Tom Whitmeyer said in a call to reporters this week that it was the last design verification before the launch.

The data collected from the test will be used to make a decision on the Artemis-1 date.

Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen will be loaded into SLS from ground systems, just as they would be in a real launch.

The 322 feet tall rocket, which is expected to be the most powerful in history at the time it is operational, was rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida around two weeks ago.

The test begins at 5:00 pm Eastern Time with a call to stations from the launch control team as they arrive at their firing rooms.

With the SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule fixed on top powered on, teams will proceed to load 700,000 gallons of propellant, and practice procedures such as pauses and other checks.

They won't ignite the rocket's engines, which were tested previously. When a launch is aborted due to technical or weather related issues, they will stop the countdown about 10 seconds before liftoff.

After the fuel is drained, SLS and Orion will be taken back to the assembly building to be checked out.

NASA won't allow the public to listen to live internal audio for the Artemis mission, but it will post test milestones on its website.

Other countries looking to develop long range missiles could be helped by certain key information.

He said that the agency could re- evaluate the capabilities of the vehicles because they are very similar to the capabilities of the countries that are interested in them.

There will be a new year in 2022.

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