NASA will try again to fuel Artemis 1 moon rocket in June as launch slips to August

Source: Space.com

NASA will try again to fuel Artemis 1 moon rocket in June as launch slips to August

The next "wet dress rehearsal" attempt could come in early to mid-June.

By Mike Wall published 1 day ago

NASA will take its fourth crack at fueling up its Artemis 1 moon rocket in June that, if all goes according to plan, could set the stage for its first launch in August.

The Artemis 1 stack — a huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with an Orion crew capsule on top — rolled out to Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida in mid-March for its "wet dress rehearsal," a crucial series of tests that includes fueling up the SLS.

The wet dress began on April 1 and was supposed to wrap up two days later. But the Artemis 1 team encountered several problems, including a stuck valve on the mission's mobile launch tower and a hydrogen leak in one of the "umbilical" lines connecting the tower to the SLS, which delayed and ultimately halted the wet dress after three fueling attempts.

On April 25, team members rolled the Artemis 1 stack off Pad 39B back to KSC's cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to investigate the problems and make the necessary fixes. That work has been going well, NASA officials said during a call with reporters today (May 5).

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Read more: https://www.space.com/nasa-artemis1-moon-rocket-fueling-june