NASA launches moon rocket from launch pad to make modifications before next test

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The Artemis I giant moon rocket will undergo some modifications before NASA’s next attempt at pre-launch testing.

A NASA team prepares to return the 322-foot (98 m) stack of Artemis I rockets, including the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft, to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 26.

The critical test, known as the wet clothes exercise, simulates each stage of a launch without the missile leaving the launch pad. This process includes loading the fuel, performing a complete countdown simulating the launch, resetting the countdown clock, and draining the missile tanks.

Engineers encountered hydrogen leakage during the third attempt at this test on April 14.

Rolling the missile stack inward would allow them to assess the leak on the missile’s rear service mast and replace a faulty helium check valve on the upper stage that also caused a problem.

Upgrades are “required at an off-site resource of gaseous nitrogen used for testing,” providing this opportunity for some repairs to be made before the giant rocket returns to the launch pad for further testing, according to the agency.

Preparing a new rocket and spacecraft for launch is “really complicated,” Tom Whitmire, associate deputy director of Joint Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters, said during a press conference Monday.

“We’re putting the puzzle pieces together,” he said. “I think we came up with more pieces on Thursday, but we have a few more pieces ahead of us.”

The team is currently evaluating the next steps after repairs are made to the rocket, but Whitmire emphasized that we would “come back and do a rehearsal” to demonstrate the supercooled fuel loading and begin the countdown to launch. “It’s just a question of what’s the right time and the right way to do it.”

The team has several options once the missile is back inside the building. Engineers can make a quick choice, take care of the bare minimum on the spot, and then consider when they can make another attempt at the wet clothes rehearsal test.

Another option is to spend more time working on the rocket while it is in the building and bring it closer to the configuration already required for flight.

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch manager for the NASA Exploration Ground Systems program, says during the press conference that the third option is considering doing both a dress rehearsal and launch in a single campaign after it’s rolled onto the launch pad.

“Our team has been working really hard, and I think they are doing a great job through all of these processes for the first time, and I am always impressed and proud of the problem-solving skills I see emerge within the team,” she said.

This latest decision “challenges” the first launch window, which was originally scheduled for June 6 to June 16, but later launch windows of June 29 to July 12 and July 26 through August 9 are still possible.

“We’ve faced a number of challenges to overcome, and those challenges require perseverance,” Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager at NASA Headquarters, said during the conference. “And that perseverance, in turn, is the character building within the team and the character needed to be optimistic and when we are ready to fly.”

Blackwell-Thompson said the point of the rehearsal was to identify problems that could be corrected before being forced to abort a launch attempt, something the Apollo and shuttle programs also encountered.

The results of training in wet clothes will determine when Artemis I will embark on a mission beyond the Moon and back to Earth. This mission will launch NASA’s Artemis program, which is expected to return humans to the moon and land the first woman and first people of color on the moon by 2025.