KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – The team working on the Artemis I launch has begun counting down for the wet dress rehearsal, with tanking to begin on Sunday.
NASA’s website said the countdown was set to begin at 5 p.m. Friday with a “call to stations.” The clock is set for L-45 hours, 40 minutes.
In an update Saturday, Kennedy Space Center officials said that the countdown clock had since been turned off and would be reset at 12:40 p.m. to make the last 24 hours of the count.
[TRENDING: DeSantis discusses potential for repeal of Disney’s Reedy Creek act | Win tickets to Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]
The team completed several tasks as part of the wet dress rehearsal, including closing the Orion crew module hatch and checking for leaks. The crew access arm was also retracted.
During the wet dress rehearsal, NASA’s launch team will run through all the steps to prepare to launch the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. This includes loading propellant into the rocket’s tanks and conducting a full launch countdown.
The team will also then recycle the countdown clock and drain the tanks so they can practice timelines and procedures used for launch.
NASA said there is a slight lightning concern with the dress rehearsal, with less than a 10% chance of lightning within five nautical miles of the launch pad, well within NASA constraints. There is also a 10% chance of winds greater than 23 knots on Sunday when tanking begins. Winds must not be above 37.5 knots.
NASA said the public likely will not be able to see most of the activity happening at the launch pad. Updates will be provided on the NASA Artemis blog.
Once the wet dress rehearsal is finished, the rocket will eventually be rolled back from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building for final tests and checks before an eventual launch to the Moon sometime in the next few months.