The last test of NASA’s giant rocket to the moon, the SLS, has been postponed to allow the launch of a SpaceX rocket, the US space agency announced on Tuesday (5).
The dress rehearsal for the SLS and the launch of the SpaceX rocket were scheduled for Friday at the same time in Cape Canaveral, Florida. One from platform 39B and one from platform 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Testing of the lunar rocket will begin shortly after the launch of SpaceX, which will transport three businessmen and a former astronaut to the international space station (ISS), while the 98-meter-tall SLS rocket will remain on hold on its platform.
Before its departure to the Moon, scheduled for the end of this year, all the steps for its launch must be rehearsed, from filling the tanks to the countdown, which will be interrupted just before the engines start.
The test that began last Friday was scheduled to end on Sunday, but NASA teams encountered “a wide variety of technical challenges” and weather issues on Saturday, explained Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis program manager for the return to Moon.
“These are not major problems,” added Sarafin. “We didn’t find any fundamental flaws or design issues.”
Artemis 1, whose development is years behind schedule, will be the SLS’s first mission.
