The US space agency NASA has completed a key rocket test for the upcoming Artemis mission. Under this mission, the agency is aiming to send humans to the Moon. According to the agency, it conducted a hot fire of the core stage for the SLS. SLS is a launch system. It is a super heavy-lift rocket. It was announced by NASA in 2011. The SLS is still under the development phase. The SLS will be used by the agency for its Artemis mission. The engines were ignited for nearly eight minutes. It is exactly the same amount of time the rocket will take for a space launch. NASA said that engines were shut down a little more than eight minutes.
NASA said that the engines were not ignited for the full duration. But the team involved in the task gained valuable data that is enough to make the mission’s path forward. The test is an important step towards ensuring that SLS’s core stage is all set for launch. The rocket will be used by NASA for the Artemis 1 mission. It is first in the series of the mission which involves landing humans on the lunar surface for exploration. The mission is proposed to lift off in November 2021. It will be an uncrewed mission. It will be used to certify an Orion spacecraft that will take humans to the surface of Earth’s only natural satellite.
This was the first time when all four engines of the SLS were fired during the core stage. The team ensured the core stage’s structural integrity and recorded the required data to evaluate the system’s performance. NASA under the Artemis mission is aiming to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon’s surface. It is working to send humans to Moon in 2024. The Artemis 2 mission will be launched in August 2023. It will be the first crewed mission of Orion spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft will perform a lunar flyby test before returning to Earth. The third and final Artemis 3 mission will be launched in 2024. The SLS and the Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts to the Moon. NASA wants to set up a base on the Moon and use it for deep exploration of space and Mars.
