Artemis 2 astronauts swimsuit up for nighttime moon launch gown rehearsal (photographs, video)

The subsequent astronauts headed to the moon are making ready for all contingencies as their mission approaches, they usually not too long ago accomplished a nighttime rehearsal of launch procedures.

NASA’s Artemis 2 mission — the first-ever crewed mission of the Orion capsule and Space Launch System (SLS) — is concentrating on a liftoff between February and April of 2026. Aboard Orion might be NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The quartet will fly Orion on a journey across the moon, looping across the pure satellite tv for pc and slingshotting again to Earth on a “free-return” trajectory. The Artemis 2 crew practiced nighttime launch protocols throughout a latest gown rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, throughout which they donned their spacesuits to overview emergency egress procedures on the launch tower.

Beginning on Aug. 12, the Artemis 2 astronauts spent about two nights going via the motions of placing on their spacesuits inside KSC’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C), for various launch day situations across the Launch Complex-39B (LC-39B) pad and close by Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the place the Artemis 2 SLS rocket is presently being stacked on its cell launcher.

One train had the crew run via a launch scrub sequence, driving the 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) from O&C to LC-39B, after which again to O&C to gauge routes, communications and timing.

The Artemis 2 crew additionally practiced emergency egress procedures within the VAB’s High Bay 3, the positioning of the SLS stacking.

In the occasion of a launch day emergency by which the Artemis 2 crew is already inside Orion or close to the highest of the launch tower, a speedy exit that places as a lot distance as potential between the rocket and the astronauts is critical to make sure their security. In these instances, crews board cable trolley baskets secured on the high of the cell launch platform (MLP), which transport them to the perimeter of LC-39B’s “pad terminus area,” in line with a NASA blog post.

Those baskets are presently on the ground of the VAB, the place the MLP and SLS are additionally presently being housed  —  about 3 miles (5 km) from LC-39B. To full their emergency egress simulation, the astronauts traveled between each websites.

Moving from O&C to the VAB in full spacesuit apparel, the Artemis 2 astronauts ascended the MLP tower to the White Room, the connection space on the finish of the MLP crew entry arm that opens to Orion’s hatch. Back on the VAB ground, the crew practiced coming into and exiting the emergency egress baskets.

From there, the crew have been transported to the LC-39B perimeter, the place the hampers would carry them throughout an precise launch day emergency. Whisked inside armored response automobiles, the Artemis 2 crew have been then pushed to predetermined protected zones round KSC earlier than the take a look at was concluded.

Last week’s nighttime gown rehearsal carefully mirrors a daytime run-through that the crew accomplished in 2023. Since then, their mission has been delayed a number of instances, kicking the purpose submit from 2024 to its present NET (no sooner than) date of February 2026 (although the crew says April is extra possible).