SLS Rolls out to Launch Complex 39B for Testing In Preparation for Artemis I

SLS at the Pad | Credit: NASA

During the night of March 17, NASA rolled out their massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a Wet Dress Rehearsal. It took almost 11 hours to go from where motion started around 4:47pm ET until the rocket got to the pad around 4:30am the next day. Before rolling out, the pieces of the SLS was stacked together in NASA's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the same building where the Saturn V and space shuttle were stacked. The crawler transporter used for the rollout, Crawler Transporter 2 (CT-2) was also used to take Saturn V rockets and the space shuttle to the pad. The wet dress rehearsal (WDR), currently scheduled to happen in early April, will be a test in which both the core stage and upper stage (the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage or ICPS) will be fully fueled. The countdown will be practiced and everything will be done which will be done on launch day except the actual ignition of the engines (which were already tested on a test stand at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi). After the test, the SLS will be rolled back to the VAB for final preparations for launch, which is currently scheduled to happen on June 6. This will be the Artemis I mission, an uncrewed flight of the Orion spacecraft around the moon. The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and SpaceX's Starship HLS, will work together to return humans to the moonn in 2025.