NASA's moon mission is DELAYED: Artemis II is pushed back to March

"During a wet dress rehearsal, ground crews practice loading the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with propellant, running through a countdown, and emptying the fuel tanks. However, after starting the rehearsal at 01:13 GMT (20:13 EST) on January 31, several issues quickly became apparent. Cold weather at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida interfered with the fuelling process, leading to a liquid hydrogen leak that brought proceedings to a halt."

"The wet dress rehearsal had already been pushed back several days due to unexpectedly cold weather, which can interfere with rocket systems and the interfaces that prevent propellant leaks. But, after waiting for the rocket to warm up to a safe temperature, the crew began filling the SLS with over two million litres of supercooled liquid hydrogen, chilled to -252°C (-423°F). Almost immediately, NASA noticed a liquid hydrogen leak in an interface used to transfer propellant into the rocket's core."

"In a statement, NASA said: 'Engineers conducted a first run at terminal countdown operations during the test; however, the countdown stopped at 5 minutes left due to a spike in the liquid hydrogen leak rate.' During a wet dress rehearsal, ground crews practice loading the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with propellant, running through a countdown, and emptying the fuel tanks. However, after starting the rehearsal at 01:13 GMT (20:13 EST) on January 31, several issues quickly became apparent."

NASA postponed the Artemis II launch to March after a wet dress rehearsal ended early when a liquid hydrogen leak spiked during terminal countdown operations. Engineers stopped the countdown with five minutes remaining. Cold weather at the Kennedy Space Centre interfered with fuelling and contributed to interface issues that allow propellant leaks. Ground crews had filled the SLS with over two million litres of supercooled liquid hydrogen chilled to -252°C. The leak was detected in an interface used to transfer propellant into the rocket's core. The Artemis II crew will remain in quarantine and will not travel to the launch site as planned. The SLS had been transported from the hangar to the launchpad on January 17.

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