NASA plans an on-pad repair of the fuel leak that derailed an overnight dress rehearsal countdown for the agency’s huge Artemis II rocket. The agency then plans a second fueling test before making another attempt in March to launch four astronauts on a historic flight around the moon.”We are still in the process of assessing the data that we collected yesterday and developing the (repair) plan,” said Lori Glaze, a senior manager in NASA’s Exploration Systems Development office. “We do believe…at this point that the work that’s in front of us can be conducted out at the pad, and that’s what we anticipate.”Frost coats NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday after a dress rehearsal countdown was called off because of a hydrogen leak but before supercold propellants had been drained from the booster’s tanks. NASA has delayed the rocket’s launch to carry four astronauts to the moon and back until March at the earliest. / Credit: Spaceflight NowWith a February launch ruled out and the moonshot now on hold until March at the earliest, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen ended a pre-flight medical quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Tuesday.AdvertisementAdvertisement”Immense pride seeing the rocket reach 100% fuel load last night, especially knowing how challenging the scenario was for our launch team doing the dangerous and unforgiving work,” Wiseman said on X Tuesday afternoon. “The crew just shared a peaceful breakfast with our families and we jump back into training tomorrow to start our preps for a March launch to the moon.”The leak in question is located between two umbilical plates where an 8-inch-wide hydrogen fuel line enters the base of the rocket. During fueling operations Monday afternoon, sensors recorded high concentrations of hydrogen in a cavity between the ground and rocket sides of the umbilical, forcing fueling to halt.The team ultimately was able to get the leak back to acceptable levels by adjusting flow rates and temperature, and fully loading the Space Launch System rocket with nearly 800,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel.But the leak suddenly spiked in the final six minutes of the practice countdown when the first stage hydrogen tank was being pressurized as it would be for launch. At that point, an automated control system stopped the countdown and the launch team ended the test without accomplishing several major objectives.AdvertisementAdvertisement”To me, the big takeaway was we got a chance for the rocket to talk to us. And it did just that,” said John Honeycutt, chairman of NASA’s Mission Management Team. “The test gave us exactly what we needed. It was an opportunity for us to wring out the system, as well as the team, before we ask our crew to go fl …
