FL: NASA TARGETS JUNE 2027 FOR ARTEMIS III LAUNCH
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MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. (WESH) — Artemis III could launch from the Space Coast as early as June 2027, according to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
His team confirmed this tentative timeline with WESH 2 on Monday.
“We are aiming to stack the SLS rocket’s core stage and boosters in the coming months, and to then roll it out to the launchpad for tanking tests before the end of the year,” NASA Deputy Press Secretary George Alderman said in an email. “After the tanking test, SLS will return to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy, where it will undergo further integration, including stacking the Orion spacecraft atop.”
On Aug. 14, Isaacman said he is confident in a 2027 launch.
As for the astronauts, according to the Chief Training Officer, the Artemis III crew started their training at 8 a.m. the day after they were assigned to the mission on June 9. That means they’ll get a year of training before launching into low-Earth orbit.
Right now, they’re in the fundamentals phase of training. Their training officer called it “a crash course on Orion.” After that, they’ll learn what it’s like to do an ascent burn. Then, they’ll jump into malfunctions, training for the worst-case scenario. Next, they practice getting in and out of the vehicle. Lastly, they move on to simulations.
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