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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is changing leaky seals in its moon rocket on the pad in hopes of launching it on its first check flight by the top of this month.
Managers mentioned Thursday they may conduct one other check after the repairs to make sure all hydrogen gas leaks are plugged. If that check goes nicely — and if the Space Force extends a flight security waiver — then NASA might take one other stab at launching the 322-foot rocket in late September. Otherwise, the rocket will return to the hangar for further work, delaying liftoff till not less than October.
A collection of hydrogen gas leaks and different issues halted back-to-back launch attempts final week.
The Space Launch System rocket — probably the most highly effective ever constructed by NASA — holds a crew capsule with three check dummies. The area company desires to ship the capsule into lunar orbit on a trial run, earlier than placing astronauts on the subsequent flight, in 2024. That around-the-moon mission would pave the way in which for the primary human moon touchdown in 50 years, at the moment scheduled for 2025.
“We need to get the tanking test done and then we’ll have to look at what is the realism and schedule” to make a launch attempt as early as Sept. 23, said Jim Free, who’s in charge of NASA’s exploration systems development.
To launch in late September, NASA needs the OK from the Space Force in Cape Canaveral, which oversees the rocket’s self-destruct system. Batteries are needed to activate the system if the rocket veers off course toward populated areas. These batteries must be retested periodically, and that can only be done in the hangar. The military would have to extend the certification of those batteries by an extra two weeks or more to avoid moving the rocket back to the hangar.
But every time the rocket moves between the hangar and launch pad adds “routine wear and tear, and I don’t want to do that” unless necessary, said chief engineer John Blevins. There already have been three trips to the pad this year for practice countdowns and, most recently, the thwarted launch attempts of Aug. 29 and Saturday.
Engineers are hopeful that replacing a pair of seals in the hydrogen fuel lines at the bottom of the rocket will take care of any lingering leaks.
As an extra precaution, the launch team plans “a kindler and gentler approach to tanking” throughout the remaining part of the countdown, slowing the movement of gas at instances to scale back stress on the seals, in accordance with Mike Bolger, a program supervisor.
“We’re optimistic that we are able to knock this downside flat,” he advised reporters.
Running years late and billions over finances, NASA’s new lunar exploration program is called Artemis after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology. Twelve astronauts walked on the moon again within the late Sixties and early Seventies throughout NASA’s Apollo program.
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