After an interruption necessary to solve some technical problems, preparations have resumed for the new test of NASA's SLS (Space Launch System), which includes the largest launcher ever built by NASA, the Orion capsule and which is intended for bringing astronauts back to the moon with the Artemis program.
The 98-meter-high rocket was transported back to the Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B to retry a new ground test on 19 June.
If everything goes smoothly, the first flight, Artemis-1, could take place by the end of the summer.
The rocket was transferred from the assembly building (Vab) to the launch pad: just under 7 kilometers traveled in about 12 hours.
The test scheduled for June 19 is a sort of general rehearsal, in which all the phases preceding a launch are reproduced, but stopping immediately before the engines are switched on.
The test had been attempted at the beginning of April, but some technical problems and the need to make room for the launches of two missions from nearby platforms had led to a halt;
the rocket was then removed from the platform and returned to the Vab.
Having solved the technical problems, NASA now intends to face the test again, which involves loading liquid propellant on the rocket and simulating all launch operations, up to interrupting the countdown 10 seconds before the engines are switched on.
If all goes well, the rocket will be brought back into the Vab to begin the preparatory work for the first flight, with the Artemis-1 mission, in which an unmanned Orion capsule will orbit the Moon and then return to Earth. .
The launch of Artemis-1 could take place in the first half of September.