TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA – Canada and its US partners are entering the final countdown for a round-the-moon mission with astronauts scheduled to lift off on Wednesday (April 1), including Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
NASA and US military officials conveyed good news for launch in a press conference today (March 31) at Kennedy Space Center, which SpaceQ monitored virtually from the Orlando area. The topline of the technical briefing was that Artemis 2 remains good to fly at 6:24 p.m. on Wednesday. SpaceQ expects to be on site at KSC tomorrow for all launch events, including attendance at crew walkout and the liftoff itself.
For the Canadian space program and industry, this mission is beyond significant: Canadian Space Agency (CSA)’s Hansen will at last be able to execute on 17 hard-earned years of space training, policy work and management on his first mission off-Earth.
“It’s been a long road to get here,” acknowledged CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk, in an exclusive interview with SpaceQ on-site at KSC Monday (March 30). Hansen and Kutryk were among the finalists in the 2008-09 astronaut selection; while Kutryk was selected a decade after Hansen the next time around in 2017, they stayed in touch.
“It’s very happy, on a personal level, for me – happy times to be here, and to see this happening,” added Kutryk, who added one of the many reasons he was at KSC was to support Hansen as a long-time friend.
Flying alongside Hansen will be NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, who all have long-duration spaceflights behind them. The quartet were publicly named to this crew almost exactly three years ago, on April 3, 2023.
As with any launch, no less a moon launch, what is said right now could change in a moment. But as of the timing of the 1 p.m. conference, the countdown was proceeding smoothly. NASA senior test director Jeff Spaulding told reporters he had just come from the firing room. “There was a lot of smiles today, so I felt really good about that as a team,” he told reporters. “I think everybody’s pretty excited and understands significance of this launch.”
Weather remained 80% go for launch across the two-hour window Wednesday; cumulus clouds are expected, but that is not unusual for Floridian springs. Later in the week, the weather gets more difficult, but there remain four launch opportunities anticipated between April 1 and 6.
And for April 1’s offshore weather: “We have a two-hour launch window. We should be able to shoot the gap between those [rain] showers,” said Mark Burger, 45th launch weather officer at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
An X-class solar flare that erupted on Tuesday (March 31) is not expected to send enough radiation to Earth to be a concern. SpaceX also lost communications with a Starlink satellite on Tuesday and the company separately stated that will also pose no threat to the Artemis 2 launch.
Tanking operations will be something the community especially will be looking at, given Artemis 2 had difficulties with the first of its two wet dress rehearsals. Tanking will start around 7:30 a.m. and one of the key things there to look at will be the “fast fuel” operations anticipated a little less than 10 hours before liftoff, meaning a little before 10 a.m.
There are planned holds in the countdown (see a full schedule below), and even after the “terminal” count of T-10 minutes there are moments where the countdown can still be halted. NASA officials said they remain cautious and prudent in these possible last hours before launch.
Key coverage events tomorrow (wording is mostly from NASA, and of course these are subject to change):
- 7:45 a.m.: Coverage of tanking operations to load propellant into the SLS rocket begins, including views of the rocket and audio from a commentator.
- 12:50 p.m.: NASA+ coverage of launch begins.
- 1:56 p.m.: Crew walkout to their launch pad bus from the KSC quarantine facility.
- 6:24 p.m. to 8:24 p.m.: Nominal Artemis II launch window.
- ~2.5 hours after launch: NASA will hold a post-launch news conference after the SLS rocket’s upper stage performs a burn to send Orion and its crew to high Earth orbit.
NASA notes that after terminal countdown begins (T-10 minutes) there are moments to hold the count (wording is NASA’s)
- The launch team can hold at 6 minutes for the duration of the launch window, less the 6 minutes needed to launch, without having to recycle back to 10 minutes.
- If teams need to stop the clock between T-6 minutes and T-1 minute, 30 seconds, they can hold for up to 3 minutes and resume the clock to launch. If they require more than 3 minutes of hold time, the countdown would recycle back to T-10.
- If the clock stops after T-1 minute and 30 seconds, but before the automated launch sequencer takes over, then teams can recycle back to T-10 to try again, provided there is adequate launch window remaining.
- After handover to the automated launch sequencer, any issue that would stop the countdown would lead to concluding the launch attempt for that day.
Launch times are naturally highly subject to change, but this is NASA’s schedule for the last 16 hours before launch. (Wording is NASA’s).
L-16 hours and counting
- L-15H30M – L-14H: All non-essential personnel leave Launch Complex 39B
- L-14H15M – L-12H05M: Air-to-gaseous nitrogen (GN2) changeover and rocket cavity inerting
- L-13H15M – L-11H45M: Ground launch sequencer (GLS) activation
L-13 hours and counting
- L-12H35M – L-9H50M: 2-hour 45-minute built in countdown hold begins
- L-10H50M – Launch team decides “go” or “no-go” to begin tanking
- L-10H50M – L-9H35M: Orion cold soak
- L-10H40M – L-10H35M: Core stage LOX transfer line chilldown
- L-10H40M – L-9H55M: Core stage LH2 chilldown
- L-10H25M – L-9H40M: Core stage LOX main propulsion system chilldown
L-10 hours and counting
- L-9H55M – L-9H25M: Core stage LH2 slow fill start
- L-9H50M – Resume T-Clock from T-8H10M
- L-9H40M – L-9H30M: Core stage LOX slow fill
- L-9H30M – L-6H40M: Core stage LOX fast fill
- L-9H25M – L-8H: Core stage LH2 fast fill
- L-9H05M – L-8H30M: ICPS LH2 chilldown
- L-8H30M – L-7H45M: ICPS LH2 fast fill start
L-8 hours and counting
- L-8H – L-7H55M: Core stage LH2 topping
- L-7H55M – terminal count: Core stage LH2 replenish
- L-7H45M – L-7H20M: ICPS LH2 vent and relief test
- L-7H20M – L-7H10M: ICPS LH2 tank topping start
- L-7H05M – terminal count: ICPS LH2 replenish
- L-6H40M – L-6H10M: Orion communications system activated (radio frequency to mission control)
- L-6H40M – L-6H05M: Core stage LOX topping
- L-6H40M – L-6H30M: ICPS LOX main propulsion system chilldown
- L-6H30M – L-5H45M: ICPS LOX fast fill
- L-6H10M – Stage pad rescue
- L-6H10M: – Closeout crew assemble
- L-6H05M – terminal count: Core stage LOX replenish
L-6 hours and counting
- L-6H – Flight crew weather brief
- L-5H45M – L-5H30M: ICPS LOX vent and relief test
- L-5H30M – L-5H10M: ICPS LOX topping
- L-5H10M – terminal count: ICPS LOX replenish
- L-5H10M – All stages replenish
- L-5H10M – Start 1-hour 10-minute built in hold
- L-5H10M – L-4H55M: Closeout crew to white room
- L-4H40M – L-4H10M: Flight crew deployment to pad
L-4 hours and counting
- L-4H: Flight crew board Orion
- L-3H40M – L-3H10M: Crew module hatch preps and closure
- L-3H10M – L-2H45M: Counterbalance mechanism hatch sealpress decay checks
- L-2H20M – L-1H40M: Crew module hatch service panel install/closeouts
- L-1H40M – L1H30M: Launch abort system (LAS) hatch closure for flight
- L-1H10M – Launch director brief – rocket & thermal protection system scan results with the imagery console
- L-50M – L-40M: Closeout crew departs Launch Complex 39B
- L-50M – Final NASA test director briefing is held
L-40 minutes and holding
- L-40M – Built in 30-minute countdown hold begins
L-25 minutes and holding
- L-25M – Transition team to Orion to Earth communication loop following final NTD briefing
- L-17M – Launch director polls team to ensure they are “go” for launch
- L-15M – Flight crew visors down
- L-14M – Flight crew short purge verification
T-10 minutes and counting
- T-10M – GLS initiates terminal count
- T-8M – Crew Access Arm retract
- T-6M – GLS go for core stage tank pressurization
- T-6M – Orion ascent pyros are armed
- T-6M – Orion set to internal power
- T-5M57S – Core stage LH2 terminate replenish
- T-5M20S – LAS capability is available
- T-5M20S – NTD lets commander know LAS capability is available
- T-4M40S – GLS go for LH2 high flow bleed check
- T-4M30S – Flight termination system armed
- T-4M – GLS is go for core stage auxiliary power unit (APU) start
- T-4M – Core Stage APU starts
- T-4M – Core stage LOX terminate replenish
- T-3M30S – ICPS LOX terminate replenish
- T-3M10S – GLS go for purge sequence 4
- T-2M02S – ICPS switches to internal battery power
- T-2M – Booster switches to internal batter power
- T-1M30S – Core stage switches to internal power
- T-1M20S – ICPS enters terminal countdown mode
- T-50S – ICPS LH2 terminate replenish
- T-33S – GLS sends “go for automated launch sequencer” command
- T-30S – Core stage flight computer to automated launching sequencer
- T-12S – Hydrogen burn off igniters initiated
- T-10S – GLS sends the command for core stage engine start
- T-6.36S– RS-25 engines startup
T-0: Booster ignition, umbilical separation, and liftoff