A assembled and cleaned Mega Moon rocket is prepared for the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Monday (14/3/2022). The Mega Moon rocket is scheduled to undergo a pre-launch test on Thursday (17/3/2022).
NASA in a statement to the press said the Mega Moon rocket will travel as far as 6.4 kilometers from the Kennedy Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39B, weather permitting. The launch will begin at 5 p.m. local time.
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Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program explained, the rocket’s journey will take about 11 hours to reach its destination, carried by the Crawler-Transporter 2 at a speed of 1.3 km/h.
Once the spacecraft and rocket are positioned on the launch pad, it will take engineers about two weeks to prepare for what is known as a “wet dress exercise”. It was given the name because these tests showed that the rocket could be loaded with supercooled liquid propellant.
“A call to the station for wet clothes practice will likely be on April 1. And, refilling operations are expected to begin on April 3, 2022,” said Blackwell-Thompson.
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Blackwell-Thompson added that engineers and technicians would also practice a launch countdown to test the rocket’s response. Starting from the flight stop scenario, before completing the exercise, draining the fuel tanks and preparing the rocket to return to the VAB, which would take another eight to nine days.
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