By: Iris Shen

On Thursday, NASA said they will not organize another fueling and countdown test of their moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Instead, they will repair it and send it to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its first launch attempt in late August.

This week, NASA almost got through the test, known as a “wet dress rehearsal” by fully fueling the rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. But with 29 seconds to go, the simulated countdown was cut short because of a hydrogen leak.

Despite this, NASA was satisfied with the results. “It was a great day, ” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the Artemis launch director, after the test. “It was a very successful day, and we accomplished a majority of the objectives that we had not completed in the prior tests.”

After the test, NASA officials said they were not sure whether they would need to do it again. On Thursday, they confirmed that they have enough data to proceed with the first-ever launch attempt of the SLS rocket that the agency plans to use to send astronauts to the moon.

“NASA has reviewed the data from the rehearsal and determined the testing campaign is complete,” the agency said in a statement. The agency will take the rocket and the Orion crew capsule back into the assembly building where they will repair the leak and prepare it for launch.

The agency said in a statement that “NASA will set a specific target launch date after replacing hardware associated with the leak.”

The first launch date is set between August 23 and September 6.

The SLS is intended to become the successor to the retired Space Shuttle and the primary launch vehicle of NASA’s space exploration plans. Crewed lunar flights are planned as part of the Artemis program, leading to a possible human mission to Mars.

Source articles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/23/nasa-moon-sls-rcoket-launch/