NASA Invites Media to Briefing on Next Test of SLS Rocket Core Stage

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Dec 04, 2020, 13:38 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 12 p.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 10, to discuss the next test in the Green Run testing series for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's core stage that will fly on the agency's Artemis I mission. The test, known as the wet dress rehearsal, will begin Saturday, Dec. 5, and take place over several days at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Engineers will power up all the core stage systems and load and drain more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or supercold, propellant into the tanks for the first time.

The Green Run test series is a comprehensive assessment of the rocket's core stage prior to it launching Artemis missions to the Moon. NASA has completed six of the eight core stage Green Run tests and is in the final stage of testing, which will operate the entire stage and its propulsion systems together for the first time. Following the completion of the wet dress rehearsal, NASA will set a date for the hot fire test. During the hot fire test, all four engines will fire to simulate the stage's operation during launch.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

Participating in the briefing are:

John Honeycutt, SLS program manager, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Julie Bassler, SLS stages manager, Marshall
Maury Vander, chief of test operations, Stennis
Mark Nappi, Green Run manager, Boeing

To participate in the teleconference, media must contact Karen Northon at [email protected] by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, for dial-in information.

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA is working to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.

For more information about the Green Run test series, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun

SOURCE NASA