The cold temperatures this weekend are delaying a fueling test of NASA's moon rocket SLS at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of the Artemis II mission. The test known as the wet dress rehearsal includes a simulated countdown and fueling of the rocket, which is now scheduled to occur no earlier than Monday.
The wet dress rehearsal is a critical test of the rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and the ground systems used to launch the mission. It's a critical test for mission managers before giving the go-ahead to launch the crew on a mission to the moon – the first human mission to deep space since 1972. Artemis II will carry three U.S. astronauts and one from Canada on a 10-day trip around the moon and back.
But forecasted temperatures delayed a planned test for this weekend, forcing NASA to push the fueling operation to next week.
"An Arctic air mass will send temperatures at Cape Canaveral below freezing this weekend, potentially dropping to the mid to upper 20s Saturday night," said Megan Borowski, a meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. "The National Weather Service has issued both a Freeze Watch and an Extreme Cold Watch for the Cape (and these alerts will be updated to warnings once we get closer to Saturday night) in anticipation of subfreezing temperatures and wind chills in the teens."
NASA has set weather criteria for fueling the rocket, preventing teams from loading the rocket with propellant needed for the test if "the 24-hour average temperature at both 132.5 feet and 257.5 feet is less than 41.4 degrees Fahrenheit."
The wet dress rehearsal begins about two days before the targeted tanking and simulated launch. Launch managers review the data before committing to loading the astronauts in the Orion spacecraft atop the SLS rocket and launching the mission.
Delaying the test gives mission managers fewer launch opportunities in February. If all goes well with the wet dress rehearsal, NASA could launch Artemis II on Feb. 8, 10 or 11. There are additional launch opportunities in the early parts of March and April.
The previous SLS mission, Artemis I, required multiple wet dress rehearsals before launching without a crew on a test flight in November 2022.
As Artemis II awaits its dress rehearsal, NASA says engineers are keeping the Orion spacecraft powered on – with its heaters set to handle the cold temps. Similar precautions are being taken with the SLS rocket.
The crew remains in quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The crew should arrive at the Kennedy Space Center about six days before launch.
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