NASA conducted many tests before launch rocketofficially known as the Space Launch System (SLS), as of April 1, two weeks after it was lifted off Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
NASA hoped that the “wet dress” tests would take less than 48 hours to complete, but two weeks and three tests later, the agency decided to send the 98-meter-tall rocket back to the east. in.
“Wet skirt” drills are being carried out to prepare the world’s most powerful rocket for the upcoming Artemis I flight. This launch will see the SLS fire the unexploded Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back in preparation for later crewed missions.
However, after the giant rocket inched away from the launch pad, NASA engineers’ attempts to load it with propellant and prepare it for the moment of ignition failed.
NASA has identified the main problems as a faulty helium check valve and liquid hydrogen leakage and hopes to correct the problems through improvements to both the rocket and supply systems.
According to NASA, apart from the above “annoying” problems, the rocket is fine.
“The Mega Moon rocket is still working great. The one-way valve is really the only problem we’ve seen so far. We’re very proud of the rocket,” said Tom Whitmeyer, deputy administrator at headquarters NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, said at a press conference on April 18.
NASA engineers are scheduled to return the rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 26, where they will replace a faulty helium check valve in the rocket’s upper stage that prevents it from stopping The ground crews loaded it with supercooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
After these delays, it is still unclear when Artemis I will be released. No date has been set for the next “wet skirt” test, but if repairs are completed in May, the next launch opportunity could be in June.
NASA will then need to return the rocket to the assembly building again to activate the flight safety system before returning it to the launch pad again. All of this taken into consideration, the rocket’s take-off could be delayed until August at the earliest.
But despite the setbacks, NASA is confident that the Moon rocket, after more than 11 years of construction and worth $30 billion, will soon be launched.
According to NASA, when the rocket finally lifts off for its first mission, it will make a 450,000km trip around the Moon, going farther than any spacecraft built to carry humans before this .
Artemis I will be followed by Artemis II, a flight with human passengers, and Artemis III, which will return humans to the surface of the Moon – including the first woman and the first man of color.
According to Live Science
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