The countdown has begun for Artemis II, the mission set to fly a Canadian astronaut and three U.S. crewmates around the moon over the next several days.
On Monday, mission managers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kennedy Space Center said a review meeting earlier that day uncovered no technical obstacles to initiating a countdown for a launch attempt on Wednesday evening.
Weather forecasts also continue to look favourable for the target date.
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“There are no issues preventing us from pressing ahead at this point,” said NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya, during a status briefing with reporters late Monday afternoon.
The start of the countdown means ground crews have begun the final setup of systems and equipment required to ignite the Space Launch System − a 98-metre tall rocket topped by the Orion crew capsule which has been sitting at the centre’s pad 39-B since it rolled out on March 20.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian to fly beyond low Earth orbit. Hansen explains the stages of the Artemis II, a mission that will fly astronauts around the Moon’s far side.
If there are no interruptions to those preparations, the rocket could lift off as early as 6:24 p.m. on Wednesday or up to two hours after that to be in position for a lunar flight.
There are additional launch opportunities every day until April 6, after which the shifting position of the moon relative to Earth would require waiting another 24 days.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said that the two-hour window for launch each day was a boon for meeting weather requirements.
“Over the course of a two-hour window, weather can change and things can move around,” she said. “I feel pretty good about our chances.”
As if to echo the sentiment, the briefing was followed by a short burst of rainfall that ended with sunlight breaking through the clouds and a brilliant rainbow appearing over the launch complex.
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The rocket’s dusky orange core stage could be seen easily about five kilometres from the space centre’s press building, with its two gleaming white booster rockets bolted to its sides.
Ms. Blackwell-Thompson, who is NASA’s first female flight director, reminded media of the more than 500 “launch commit criteria” that the mission would have to pass during the two-day countdown period to get off the ground. Any one of those could delay the count or cause her to scrub a launch for that day.
A key milestone will come on Wednesday morning when ground crews begin loading the rocket with thousands of tonnes of liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel.
Leaking hydrogen fuel during a dress rehearsal in early February triggered a delay, which together with a second problem with the rocket’s upper stage, ultimately set the launch back by two months. On Monday, managers expressed cautious confidence that the problem had been addressed with new seals on the tank.
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The crew of Artemis II, including commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, spent much of their day on Monday with family members with whom they are sharing their quarantine period.
They spent Monday evening at a beach house at the space centre that has long been used as a social gathering place for astronauts prior to launch.
Meanwhile, others who are invited to the launch have been arriving since the weekend.
NASA's Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft sit on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday in Cape Canaveral, Florida.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
On Sunday, Tom and Susan Stevenson, who are friends of Col. Hansen and his family, arrived from Toronto hoping to see the historic flight of “an authentic and extraordinary Canadian,” Mr. Stevenson said.
Canada first signed on to become a partner in the Artemis program in 2020.
Asked whether it was still relevant to participate in the United States-led mission, Mr. Stevenson, who is an economist and entrepreneur, said, “It’s more relevant than ever.”