Space Launch System rocket now targeted for a late 2021 launch

NASA has finally set a new launch date for the oft-delayed first flight of its Space Launch System rocket. The formal date should be announced next week, a senior engineer at the agency said.

During a committee meeting of NASA’s Advisory Council, Tom Whitmeyer said the launch date would be “towards the end of next year.” This mission, dubbed Artemis I by NASA, is seen as the agency’s first step back toward the Moon. The uncrewed test flight, which will last between 26 and 42 days, will insert Orion into a lunar orbit before the deep space capsule returns to Earth.

Under development since 2011, the Space Launch System rocket has cost NASA nearly $20 billion and has been criticized both for its cost and slow pace of development. But largely because of unshaken Congressional support, NASA has continued its plodding development.

Most of the rocket’s delays have centered on the rocket’s Core Stage, which houses large liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellant tanks, and four space shuttle main engines. The stage’s primary contractor, Boeing, bears much of the responsibility, but more recently, NASA cited the COVID-19 crisis for a slowdown in work.

Working on the Green Run

The next key test is a full-duration firing of the Core Stage and its engines at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. However, due to the coronavirus, NASA has closed this facility for the last two months. Now, Whitmeyer said, key personnel are starting to return to the test facility, but he does not expect a full complement of employees until this summer.

Back in January, Boeing’s John Shannon said the company and NASA hoped to complete the Green Run test in July or August. And officials have said work on the Core Stage was progressing well before the spread of COVID-19 in March near Stennis.

Now, Whitmeyer said, this critical Green Run test firing may occur around Thanksgiving of this year. If everything goes well with this test—which is no guarantee, considering the fact that they are testing the large vehicle with chilled hydrogen for the first time—the Core Stage could ship to Kennedy Space Center at the very end of 2020 or early 2021. This will set into motion the stacking of the rocket for a launch late next year.

While COVID-19 is taking the public blame, it has been evident for some time that the SLS rocket probably would not launch until the second half of 2021 at the earliest. Ars reported as much in July of last year. It also seems likely that NASA will have to return to Congress at some point to ask for even more funding to make a late 2021 launch date.

Schedule slips have been a regular feature of the SLS program. Back in 2014 and 2015, the “formal” launch date was late 2017. It has since slipped almost year for year. Meanwhile, Orion is waiting in storage for its ride to space.