NASA said on Wednesday it had successfully tested the refueling process for a new rocket after technical problems prevented two attempts to get the behemoth off the ground and head to the moon a few weeks ago.
“Everything we’ve been able to achieve today,” said Charlie
Blackwell Thompson, launch director of the project called Artemis 1.
The unmanned mission hopes to test the new 30-layer SLS
rocket and the unmanned Orion capsule on top of it in preparation for a future
manned trip to the moon.
The last attempt to launch NASA’s most powerful rocket in
early September had to be aborted due to a leak while its cryogenic fuels —
liquid hydrogen and oxygen — were pumped into the rocket’s fuel tanks.
Repairs were made, and Wednesday test involved refilling
those tanks.
Although a small hydrogen leak was detected during testing,
NASA engineers were able to contain it.
Last week, NASA said it was now targeting September 27 as
its next launch date. October 2 is set as an alternate date.
“The team will evaluate the test data as well as weather and
other factors before confirming readiness for the next launch opportunity,”
NASA said.
When asked about the timing of the next launch attempt, Blackwell-Thompson
declined to comment, although she said she was “very encouraged by today’s
test.”
U.S. officials are also closely monitoring Hurricane Fiona trajectory
along the Atlantic coast.
To make Sept. 27 possible, NASA must obtain a waiver to
avoid retesting the batteries on the detonation system used to destroy the
rocket if it deviated uncontrollably.
The next mission, Artemis 2, will bring astronauts to the
moon without landing on the lunar surface, while the third mission — scheduled
for the mid-2020s — will see the first on lunar soil women and people of color.
NASA wants to build a lunar space station called the Gateway
and maintain a persistent presence on the moon to gain insight into how to
survive very long space missions ahead of a Mars mission in the 2030s.
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