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NASA SLS Green Run testing complete, Boeing readies Core Stage for tow to Florida - NASASpaceFlight.com - NASASpaceflight.com
Apr 12, 2021 4 mins, 22 secs

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and prime Core Stage contractor Boeing wrapped up the Green Run testing campaign on the Artemis 1 flight article at the Stennis Space Center and are readying the vehicle for its long-awaited shipment to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida

After reviewing the performance of the vehicle from its second test-firing in mid-March, NASA and Boeing agreed that the stage could be reconfigured from testing to launch

While refurbishment activities continue, the team at Stennis has also started disconnecting the stage from the test stand to prepare for departure from Stennis

Weather will be a key factor in when the stage can be put on board the agency’s Pegasus barge to start the waterway tow trip from Stennis to Kennedy, but a late-April arrival at KSC is still possible — with KSC schedules currently forecasting attachment of the Core Stage to the SLS Boosters in the Vehicle Assembly Building in mid-May to prepare for launch of Artemis 1

Core Stage Green Run testing officially completed

The stage and its four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines are being refurbished in the B Test Stand at Stennis where Core Stage-1 remains installed in the B-2 position

After reviewing data from the last test-firing as well as the refurbishment activities so far, NASA and Boeing agreed that Green Run testing was complete and that the stage could be taken out of test configuration

In addition to the refurbishment work to get the program’s first flight article ready to put back on NASA’s Pegasus barge, the stage also needs to be disconnected from the test stand

The Stennis B-2 stage testing position in the dual-position B Test Complex provides the same ground-to-vehicle connections as the Core Stage will need for countdown and launch at KSC

(Photo Caption: The four RS-25 engines in Core Stage-1 fire in the B-2 position of the B Test Stand at the Stennis Space Center on March 18. The veteran engines served as test support equipment for the Green Run, which was a test of the new SLS Core Stage. The second Hot-Fire ran a full 500 seconds in duration, accomplishing all planned test objectives.)

The Flight Computer Application Software (FCAS) will command and control the Core Stage and Boosters on the SLS Block 1 vehicle, and the software update replaces the previously-loaded Green Run Application Software (GRAS)

GRAS was branched from the FCAS code and customized for the test-specific, Core Stage-only configuration in the stand at Stennis

The four former Space Shuttle Main Engines were essentially test support equipment for the Core Stage Green Run design verification campaign, and they operated nominally during the test

The final tests in the Green Run stage campaign, where the vehicle was taken through multiple end-to-end countdown sequences, also allowed SLS and Aerojet Rocketdyne to fine-tune the countdown timeline to prepare the engines for ignition in the SLS vehicle

Currently, drying, inspections, and leak checks of the engines are almost complete.  Once those are done, the engines will be ready to support the upcoming removal of the Core Stage from the test stand and the barge trip on Pegasus to the Kennedy Space Center launch site where final preparations for the launch of the Artemis 1 uncrewed lunar mission will take place

External access platforms around the Core Stage will be retracted and then the test stand’s derrick crane will be positioned to hook up to the “lift spider” that remains attached to the top of the stage

The SLS Boosters are stacked on Mobile Launcher-1 in High Bay 3 of the VAB, and closeout work continues as the EGS Integrated Operations team awaits the arrival of the Core Stage

When the Core Stage arrives at KSC, the SLS vehicle elements will first be stacked with a Mass Simulator for Orion (MSO) for some of the first-flight specific development tests that will be carried out in the VAB

After the Core is attached to the Boosters, the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) will be lifted on top of and bolted to the Core Stage forward skirt

Short-term forecasting shows the Core Stage’s arrive at KSC early in the week of April 26 and that mating of the Core Stage to the Boosters could occur around May 11

With the progress on Core Stage refurbishment at Stennis, the formal completion of Green Run testing, and configuration of the stage to leave Mississippi, that tentative forecast of a Core Stage mate to the SRBs in mid-May will be highly dependent on some good luck with the weather

Calm winds in the Stennis area are required for several hours so that the derrick crane at the B Test Stand can safely remove the Core Stage from the B-2 position

When the stage arrived at Stennis in January 2020, crews had to wait about a week for good weather to safely maneuver the stage into the stand

When the weather cooperates long enough to remove the stage from the stand and then perform the two-crane breakover, the Core will be reinstalled on its ground transporter, called the Multi-Purpose Transportation System (MPTS), with the connected lift spider on the front being set down on another fixture to support the weight of that GSE hardware

Once the Core Stage arrives at KSC, EGS is realistically projecting it will take 10 months to get the vehicle and ground infrastructure ready for their first launch

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