NASA’s wet dress rehearsal—an important test of the agency Artemis II The mission to the moon hit a snag on Monday.
Engineers were fueling the mission’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant and planned to initiate a countdown sequence to simulate launch. But a few hours after the procedure, NASA engineers had to work temporarily stop the flow of liquid hydrogen To investigate and troubleshoot several possible leaks in the SLS core stage, which houses the rocket’s main engines.
NASA said it resumed refueling a short time later. “Engineers will attempt to complete tank filling and then begin tank loading. If successful, they will attempt to manage the hydrogen concentration while keeping it within acceptable limits during main stage hydrogen loading,” the agency said. in a statement.
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Liquid oxygen (the other main component of the rocket’s fuel) was still flowing into the core stage during the entire launch. As part of the troubleshooting effort, NASA also temporarily Liquid hydrogen loading stopped The upper stage, which was designed to carry the Orion crew capsule on its orbital journey around the Moon.
Fuel leakage also troubled the predecessor Artemis II In testing and that mission, the launch of Artemis I was held up for weeks.
Artemis II Four astronauts will return to Earth after completing a 10-day orbit around the Moon, a journey that will take them further into space than any human has taken before. If the wet dress rehearsal is successful, the mission will not be launched before February 8.
Editor’s note (2/2/26): This is a developing story and will be updated.
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