NASA Spaceflight by by Philip Sloss January 25, 2020
The Green Run test campaign for the first NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage is underway with the rocket now installed in the B-2 position at the B Test Stand at the Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi. After waiting several days for acceptable weather conditions, the stage was finally lifted into the stand on January 22 following its arrival at Stennis on-board the Pegasus barge on January 12. The barge trip from Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) was also postponed by weather for a couple of days.
Along with the performance of the stage as it is activated in the stand, the weather will continue to play a role in how long it takes to conduct all the tests and fix up the stage to ship to the Kennedy Space Center for Artemis 1 launch preparations. The test team at Stennis will first perform a modal test on the stage before fully connecting it to the facilities in the test stand.
Stage activation and checkouts will lead up to the stage’s first propellant loading, followed by an eight-minute long, flight-duration firing of the stage and its four engines.
Vertical lift waits for favorable weather
Two cranes began the overnight installation of Core Stage-1 into B-2 position of the test stand on January 21. After a “lift spider†was attached to the weather cover on top of the forward skirt, the stand’s derrick crane was attached to the spider and a commercial crane was rigged to pick up the back of the stage at two points on the outside of the engine section section barrel.
More:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/01/sls-core-stage-stennis-b-2-stand-green-run-campaign/#more-64910
