NASA preparations for its next crewed mission around the Moon hit a snag when a hydrogen leak was detected during a crucial fueling rehearsal of its new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
The leak occurred during a critical, full-scale test designed to simulate the final stages of a real launch countdown, a key step in determining when astronauts can embark on the historic lunar fly-around.
Leak Discovered During High-Stakes Fueling
The team began loading super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen into the 322-foot rocket at Kennedy Space Center around midday. More than 700,000 gallons of fuel were scheduled to fill the rocket’s tanks and remain there for several hours to replicate real launch conditions.
A few hours into fueling, sensors detected high hydrogen levels near the rocket’s lower section, prompting the launch team to halt operations as a safety precaution, with only half of the core stage filled.
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NASA relied on procedures developed during the SLS rocket’s only previous launch three years ago, which also experienced hydrogen leaks before eventually proceeding successfully. Using lessons from that mission, engineers worked to stabilise the situation and determine whether the rehearsal could continue.
This test is considered critical for launch readiness, directly affecting the timeline for sending astronauts back to the Moon.
NASA Astronaut Crew Observes Remotely
While ground teams addressed the issue, the four astronauts assigned to the mission—three Americans and one Canadian—monitored the rehearsal from Johnson Space Center in Houston, nearly 1,000 miles away. The crew has been in quarantine for roughly 10 days, awaiting the outcome of this practice countdown.
The exercise is a pivotal step toward the first human lunar mission in over 50 years, since NASA last sent astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s.
The upcoming mission forms a central part of NASA’s Artemis program, which seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on and around the Moon. Completing this flight successfully will lay the foundation for future lunar landings and long-term deep-space exploration.