Preparations for Artemis 2, the manned flight mission to the Moon, are being completed!

The centerpiece of NASA’s second Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. Preparations for the Artemis 2 mission continue at full speed. This historic mission will be the first human flight to the Moon’s vicinity since the last Apollo mission in 1972 and will carry four astronauts around the Moon.

Artemis 2 mission preparations and work accelerated

NASA is working intensively at Kennedy Space Center for the Artemis 2 mission. The mission is officially scheduled to take place in September 2025. In this mission, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian mission specialist Jeremy Hansen will travel to the Moon with the SLS rocket. NASA’s core stage, the centerpiece of the mission, is crucial to integrated testing and checks at Kennedy.

Matthew Ramsey, NASA’s Artemis 2 mission manager, states that the core stage is the backbone of the mission. ramsay, “The core is the backbone of the SLS and the backbone of the Artemis mission. We were waiting for the core here because all integrated tests and checks require the core phase. Boosters are important too, but the core is truly the backbone for Artemis.” said.

The core stage, which was lowered into Kennedy from NASA’s Pegasus barge early Wednesday, arrived after a week-long cruise from New Orleans. Following this phase, powerful rocket boosters are planned to begin stacking at Kennedy in September. Supplied by Northrop Grumman, each thruster consists of five segments with pre-packaged solid fuel and a nose cone.

In August or September, NASA plans to deliver the remaining components of the two SLS rockets to Florida. These components are adapter structures that will connect the core stage to the upper stage and the upper stage to the Orion spacecraft. A comprehensive crane will place each segment of the SLS boosters onto the launch platform at VAB. Once the thrusters are fully stacked, the core stage will be lifted vertically and placed between the thrusters.

There are several challenges to the successful realization of the Artemis 2 mission. NASA’s first four Artemis missions cost $4.1 billion each. Artemis II’s core stage is powered by four hydrogen-fueled RS-25 engines. Two of these engines were used on the space shuttle, and the other two were engines that were produced during the shuttle era but never flew.

Steve Wofford, who leads the SLS program’s phases office, notes that there are no significant configuration differences between the Artemis I and Artemis II core phases. However, some data measured on the Artemis 1 flight will allow reducing the instrumentation required for Artemis 2.

NASA plans to deliver the core stage for the Artemis 3 mission from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans within a year. Artemis 3 will be the first lunar landing mission of the Artemis program.