The launch of NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket was earlier slated for launch in late May this year. Nonetheless, because of multiple delays in its wet dress rehearsal, lauded as the final test, this mega moon rocket has been postponed further.
An India.com report said that NASA had deferred its Artemis 1 moon rocket launch again, and now, the American space agency is planning it for August.
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NASA is currently planning to take its final test in June, and if everything goes as planned, it could set the stage for its initial launch in August.
A huge Space Launch System rocket, the Artemis 1 stack that has an Orion crew capsule on it, rolled out to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the middle of March for its "wet dress rehearsal, a critical series of tests that comprises fueling up the SLS.
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The Artemis I rocket is ferried atop its mobile launch platform back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 26, 2022.
Preparing for the Wet Dress Test
Even though the wet dress started in early April and was supposed to wrap up two days after, the team encountered various problems, which included a stuck valve on the mobile launch tower of the mission and a hydrogen leak in one of the umbilical lines that connect the tower to the SLS.
Eventually, this resulted in delay and a suspension following tree fueling attempts. In late April, team members rolled out Artemis 1 stack off Pad 39B back to the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB of KSC to examine the problems ad make the essential fixes, officials at NASA were quoted as saying a week ago, adding that the probe f the faulty valve continues.
Nevertheless, the team has stayed optimistic for another wet dress try even as the probe continues. According to the associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, Jim Free, they are currently looking at that next wet dress in the early to mid-June dime frame.
For this, the groups would need to roll out the Orion and SLS from the VAB by late May since the Artemis 1 team requires 12 to 14 days to prepare for the wet dress test, which is detailed on the NASA website.
More Than 1 Attempt Needed
Free expressed confidence that the fourth attempt would prove to be successful, although he acknowledged that it might take more than a single attempt to get the procedures where they are needed.
While NASA will not set a target launch date for Artemis 1 until the wet dress gets completed, free mentioned August as the possible earliest available timeframe at this point.
Related information about the NASA Artemis 1 moon rocket is shown on NASA's YouTube video below:
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