SLS core stage arrives at KSC but faces “challenging” schedule

The last major feature of the first Space Launch System rocket has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, but NASA’s acting chief executive says it will be a “challenge” to launch the rocket before the end of this year.
The boat Pegasus arrived at KSC on April 27 with the basic SLS cruise liner. Pegasus moved the base stage from the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, where it started in 2020 with a Green Run test campaign that ended with a fire test on March 18.
NASA will move the base phase to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where crews will attach their five-dimensional rocket enhancements, a high-end unit, and Orion spacecraft. It will then be released to Launch Complex 39B for final testing and, finally, the launch of Artemis 1.
“With the introduction of the basic SLS phase of Artemis 1, we have all the rocket components in Kennedy in Artemis’ first campaign,” John Honeycutt, SLS program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement.
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The launch is scheduled to take place later in the year, even though NASA has not given a date for the renewal of the untested test aircraft. NASA’s statement on the arrival of the main phase at KSC did not say its launch date.
NASA Acting Chief Executive Officer Steve Jurczyk, speaking at Space 27 Space Shipping webinar, said the plan would still launch Artemis 1 before the end of the year. “We are still trying our best to make that launch towards the end of this calendar year,” he said. “That would be a challenge if we delayed the delays we had.”
He said the delays included technical challenges faced by the main phase during the Green Run test, as well as those caused by weather and epidemics. Jurczyk said later that those issues have used almost all the limits on the launch program this year.
“The Artemis 1 program is going to be a real challenge,” he said. “If things are going really well, in the integration of SLS and the integration of Orion into the mobile launch and release platform, we have the opportunity to launch by the end of the calendar year.”
“But this is the first time the car has moved on to KSC,” he added, meaning that this is the first time they have gone through the process of assembling the car parts and starting with the first steps. “There is no doubt that we will face some challenges, so we do not have a long schedule to consider launch towards the end of the calendar year.”
“If we can take those big steps and make progress, we will get a gun,” he said. “If we start to miss out on these events, we will have to think about whether we can succeed this year or not.”
Bill Nelson, who was nominated by Biden executives to become NASA’s director, pointed out in his hearing the assurance on April 21 that the launch could be smooth next year. “The first work of Artemis is launched next year,” he said in a text of his opening statement, which will run into early 2022.
“By the end of the year, maybe early next year, you’ll see the largest rocket ever – launched,” he told SLS during the hearing. “It will be an active activity in the process of returning to the moon and moving on to Mars.”
Source:- space