Overview
- The rehearsal will fully load the Space Launch System with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, run terminal-count simulations, and practice abort procedures before draining the tanks.
- Engineers replaced a ground-support liquid hydrogen filter after a Feb. 12 partial test showed restricted flow, clearing the way for the full countdown exercise.
- NASA will set an official launch date only after analyzing rehearsal data, with March 6 cited as the earliest viable window.
- The four-person crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—will not participate, while pad teams rehearse Orion closeout steps such as hatch operations.
- Argentina’s space agency CONAE will contribute the Atenea microsatellite as a secondary payload, and nearly 4.987 million public name submissions will fly on a USB aboard Orion.