The team discovered a hydrogen leak at a quick disconnect line for the core stage. The core stage was mostly filled and the team was filling the upper stage when several issues occurred just after 2 p.m. Venting was visible from the rocket throughout the process. Liquid oxygen, cooled to minus 297 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 182 degrees Celsius), and liquid hydrogen were used to fill the core stage before moving on to the rocket’s upper stage. In order to make sure the backup supply is functioning as expected, it was swapped in as the primary supply for the test. The launch team replaced the valve causing the issue. Tanking was on hold Monday morning because of an issue identified with the backup supply of gaseous nitrogen. Preparations over the weekend set up the Artemis team to start loading propellant into the rocket’s core and upper stages Monday morning. ET Saturday with a “call to stations” - when all of the teams associated with the mission arrive at their consoles and report they’re ready for the test to begin and kick off a two-day countdown. The NASA team rolled the 322-foot-tall (98-meter-tall) Artemis I rocket stack, including the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, back to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 6. These have since been corrected, NASA says. Three previous attempts at the wet dress rehearsal in April were unsuccessful, concluding before the rocket could be fully loaded with propellant due to various leaks.
This mission will kick off NASA’s Artemis program, which is expected to return humans to the moon and land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface by 2025. The results of the wet dress rehearsal will determine when the uncrewed Artemis I will launch on a mission that goes beyond the moon and returns to Earth.
This process includes loading supercold propellant, going through a full countdown simulating launch, resetting the countdown clock and draining the rocket tanks.
The crucial test, known as the wet dress rehearsal, simulates every stage of launch without the rocket leaving the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The fourth attempt of a final prelaunch test started on Saturday and the rocket tanks were filled on Monday.