NASA has tried three times to go through the dress rehearsal at the launch site for the Artemis I rocket in the Kennedy Space Center, but did not hold out for a fourth.
Instead, mission leaders announced that they were returning the massive Space Launch System rocket, covered with an Orion capsule, to its mobile launcher, back to the vehicle assembly building.
This reason is due to an external supplier of nitrogen gas, which is needed during the test. NASA uses pipeline nitrogen to expel oxygen during tank procedures, making it less explosive and safer.
The goal, after 322-foot-high hardware was shipped to Launch Complex 39-B last month, was to simulate the countdown as the main stage and upper stages were filled with 730,000 gallons of supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
The teams suffered a series of pressure and valve problems that caused friction on April 3 and April 4 and then again last Thursday, which ended due to a leak found in an umbilical tube that supplied liquid hydrogen to the main stage.
With the delay in nitrogen supply, NASA said it would use it to solve some of the problems found during the cleanup by returning the rocket back to VAB, where it plans to replace a defective upper stage check valve and a leak found in the umbilical cord. pipe.
Heads of mission will discuss the decision in an interview with the media on Monday, including outlining when he can return to the pad to test the test. One option is to perform the tank test as a reference to the actual launch date, without having to move it back and forth from the VAB for the third time.
The next possible start-up periods are from 6 to 16 June, 29 June – 12 July and 26 July – August. 9.
Artemis I is an unmanned flight that will send Orion farther into space than any other man-made spacecraft has traveled, 280,000 miles away, 40,000 miles beyond the moon. The SLS rocket will surpass the power of the Apollo V Saturn V rockets, producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust on takeoff.
The mission could last four or six weeks when Orion returns to Earth to land in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Initially launched in 2016, SLS and Orion hardware has experienced numerous cost and production delays that have had a domino effect on future Artemis missions.
NASA is now planning a flight of Artemis II with a crew that will take people into orbit around the moon without landing, no earlier than May 2024. The Artemis III mission, which will use a human landing system, has been agreed with SpaceX, using version on his starship spaceship, will bring two astronauts, including the first woman, to the lunar surface. This mission is now planned for no earlier than 2025.
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