NASA’s moist gown rehearsal—an important take a look at of the company’s Artemis II mission to the moon—hit a snag on Monday.
Engineers had been fueling the mission’s Area Launch System (SLS) rocket up with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant and deliberate to provoke a countdown sequence to simulate the launch. However hours into the method, NASA engineers needed to quickly cease the circulate of liquid hydrogen into the core stage of the SLS, which homes the rocket’s primary engines, to research and troubleshoot a number of potential leaks.
NASA stated it had resumed fueling a short while later. “Engineers will try to finish filling after which start topping off the tank. Ought to that achieve success, they may try and handle the hydrogen focus, retaining it inside acceptable limits throughout core stage hydrogen loading,” the company stated in an announcement.
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Liquid oxygen (the opposite primary part of the rocket’s gasoline) was nonetheless flowing into the core stage all through the difficulty. As a part of the troubleshooting effort, NASA additionally quickly paused liquid hydrogen loading into the higher stage, which was designed to loft the Orion crew capsule towards its orbital journey across the moon.
Gas leaks additionally plagued the predecessor to Artemis II in testing and held up the launch of that mission, Artemis I, for weeks.
Artemis II will see 4 astronauts fly a 10-day loop across the moon and again to Earth, a journey that can take them farther into area than any human has gone earlier than. If the moist gown rehearsal is successful, then the mission will launch no sooner than February 8.
Editor’s Notice (2/2/26): This can be a growing story and can be up to date.
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