“Now, for the first time, all tanks have been completely filled with fuel. During the test, however, the ground team struggled with a hydrogen leak from the central stage, “said cosmonautics expert Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Office and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague on Twitter.
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At the time of the countdown to launch, there are many critical activities in quick succession, as pointed out by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in its the web.
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This final large test of the rocket included, in particular, filling the machine’s tanks with fuel and performing a final countdown, which is interrupted shortly before the potential launch – and the fuel is drained.
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What about hydrogen leakage?
The test countdown to the start came out, but the action was not without problems. The leakage of refueled hydrogen from the fuel supply system for the tank in the main stage of the rocket caused some wrinkles to the engineers. First, the operator tried to solve the problem by heating the quick coupler and cooling it again.
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The Artemis I wet dress rehearsal ended today at 7:37 p.m. EDT at T-29 seconds in the countdown. Today’s test marked the first time the team fully loaded all of the @NASA_SLS rocket propellant tanks and proceeded into the terminal launch countdown.
MORE: https://t.co/Bp1xpWHifN pic.twitter.com/tO2moCH3g7— NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) June 21, 2022
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As this did not help, it was decided to reconcile with the leak, fill the tanks and “mask” the data that would otherwise cause the countdown to be interrupted. After suspending the countdown and inspections, we finally managed to proceed to the final countdown, which begins 10 minutes before the engines start.
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The countdown was stopped 29 seconds before ignition, approximately 20 seconds before the originally scheduled interruption. However, the test can be considered successful, but it is possible that NASA will focus even more on the aforementioned hydrogen leakage from the refueling system.
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Earlier, the main stage of the rocket was tested RS-25 engines in full and long-lasting static ignition. The take-off countdown test is the last milestone before the long-awaited flight of this superheavy machine. The rocket together measures 111 meters in height and weighs almost 2,600 tons.
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In any case, it turned out significantly better now than in April. Problems in the previous April test prevented technicians from filling the rocket fuel tanks, so the SLS then returned to the hall.
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Take-off at the earliest in August
NASA could launch an SLS rocket and send the Orion spacecraft for a manned test flight around the Moon later this year (ie the Artemis I mission). According to current information from NASA, this launch will not take place until August.
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According to relatively recent expectations, the first flight of the SLS rocket with the Orion capsule without humans was to take place in May. Another mission of Artemis II is to fly with astronauts and return to Earth after orbiting the Moon. The goal of the Artemis III mission will be the surface of the Moon, and for the first time ever, a woman should also be on our natural satellite.
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By deciding not to send astronauts to the lunar surface until 2025, NASA postponed the date of the manned lunar mission by at least a year from the target set by the administration of previous US President Donald Trump.
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As the main reason for the delay, NASA chief Bill Nelson last November mentioned a seven-month lawsuit that prevented communication between the agency and SpaceX company Elon Muska over work on the lunar module. The decision to conclude a contract worth $ 2.9 billion (62.6 billion crowns) exclusively with SpaceX was challenged in court by competing company Blue Origin Jeff Bezos. The court dismissed Blue Origin’s action.
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