A faulty valve and fuel line cause delays until August
Artemis 1 was rolled back off the launch pad on 25 April, following three failed attempts at its wet dress rehearsal – when the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is filled with fuel and runs through the launch countdown procedure – in early April.
These tests revealed a hydrogen fuel leak in one of the rocket’s umbilical lines and a faulty valve on the upper stage, meaning it had to return to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs. The 5.6km journey back to the VAB took 10 hours, arriving at around 6am on 26 April. The team hope to have the rocket ready for an August launch.
“We’ll absolutely go back out; we’re absolutely going to do a wet dress rehearsal,” said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Common Exploration Systems Development. “It’s just a matter of what’s the right time, what’s the right way to do that.”