Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal Advances as NASA Powers Up SLS Rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is steadily moving through a critical wet dress rehearsal for Artemis II, conducting a full countdown simulation that will culminate in fueling its massive Moon rocket.
In the early hours of the morning, engineers powered up the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS), which will eventually be loaded with more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The interim cryogenic propulsion stage was also activated overnight as teams prepared for the complex tanking sequence ahead.
By late morning — roughly L-33 hours and 30 minutes in the countdown — operators began charging flight batteries aboard the Orion spacecraft. Core stage battery charging is set to follow later in the day.
Engineers are also conducting final inspections of the umbilical arms that connect the rocket to ground systems, along with a detailed walkdown of the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
The wet dress rehearsal is designed to test every phase of launch operations short of liftoff, particularly the intricate fueling process that has previously presented technical challenges. During tanking, teams will follow a carefully timed sequence to fill, top off and replenish the rocket’s propellant tanks.
NASA is maintaining a 24/7 live stream of the rocket on the pad and plans to provide a dedicated feed during fueling activities, along with real-time updates as the test progresses.
A successful rehearsal will clear a key hurdle for Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis campaign, which aims to return astronauts to lunar orbit for the first time since the Apollo era.
