The Artemis 1 wet dress rehearsal ended at 7:37 p.m. EDT on June 20, Nasa said in a statement. “This is the first time the team has fully loaded all the SLS rocket propulsion tanks and counted down to launch the terminal, when many critical activities occurred in rapid succession to a US space agency. However, the test did not go smoothly. During the propulsion loading operation, the team encountered a hydrogen leak in the rapid disconnection that connects a umbilical cord tissue from the tail tissue to the mobile launcher in the basic stage of the rocket. While the team tried to repair the leak by heating the quick disconnect and then freezing it to re-align a seal, its efforts did not fix the problem, NASA said. The team then intentionally “covered” the data related to the issue to continue the countdown. During a real start countdown, such data would have raised red flags. This change meant a delay, “but they managed to continue with the last 10 minutes of the countdown,” Nasa said. “Today’s #Artemis I wet rehearsal activities were completed after a modified countdown and the successful addition of a propellant to the rocket. We will review the data and meet to discuss the next steps,” the mission wrote on Twitter. The final test is the culmination of months of assembly and testing for the SLS and Orion, as well as preparations by the launch control and engineering teams, and laid the groundwork for the first Artemis launch. Artemis 1 was originally scheduled to launch in late May 2022. However, due to multiple delays in the wet dress rehearsal, the mega moon rocket has been further launched. The success of the final test could lay the groundwork for its first launch in August, NASA had earlier suggested. The unpaid Artemis I mission is the first flight of the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft together. Future missions will send people to work on a lunar orbit and on the Moon’s surface. With Artemis missions, Nasa will land the first woman and the first man of color on the Moon and conduct long-term exploration in preparation for missions to Mars. FacebookTwitterLinkedin