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| Leak Detected, Artemis 1 Rocket Still Passed Refueling Test |
Florida - NASA's Artemis 1 rocket for a mission to the Moon completed a two-day series of milestone refueling tests before launch. The tests included refueling a large Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and a simulated countdown for NASA's Orion capsule.
Quoted from Space.com, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Director of Launching Artemis at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida said not all the testing process went perfectly smooth, the Artemis 1 Team noticed a hydrogen leak during refueling. However, they deliberately "covered up" the related data to let the countdown continue. "It's a great day for our team. So proud they work through load operations and work through terminal counts.
The ground team at KSC will now likely spend the next few days preparing the Artemis 1 stack and mobile launch platform (MLP). This preparation is for transportation from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where technicians will analyze the results of a series of refueling tests known as wet gown testing.
Wet dress testing was the final major milestone the Artemis 1 had to complete before launching. On an actual mission, the SLS rocket would launch an unmanned Orion on a 30-day journey to the moon and back.
The Artemis 1 mission will be the first in a series of expeditions to the moon that NASA hopes to lay the groundwork for a permanent human presence on the lunar surface. Artemis 1 will be the first flight for SLS, the realization of more than a decade of research, development and manufacturing to advance NASA's human exploration plans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).
If Artemis 1 goes well, NASA plans to fly astronauts with Artemis 2 and Artemis 3, with the final mission putting astronauts on the moon in four years or so. NASA officials have repeatedly voiced optimism for the launch of the Artemis 1 mission in late August, but that hope has always hinged on smooth preparation and rehearsals.