December 23, 2024

NASA Reviews Options for Next Artemis I Launch Attempt, Prepares To Replace Seal

In addition, groups will also examine plate coverings on other umbilical user interfaces to ensure there are no leakages present at those places. There are seven main umbilical lines, and each line might have several connection points.

By NASA
September 8, 2022

NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion capsule atop, slowly makes its method along the crawlerway at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, August 16, 2022/Wednesday, August 17, 2022. Brought atop the crawler-transporter 2, NASAs Moon rocket is venturing the 4.2 miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B ahead of the very first flight test of the totally stacked and incorporated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
After standing down on the NASA Artemis I release effort on Saturday, September 3 due to a hydrogen leak, engineering teams have chosen to change a seal while at the launch pad. The seal is on an interface, called the fast disconnect, between the liquid hydrogen fuel feed line on the mobile launcher and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Performing the work at the launch pad requires specialists to set up an enclosure around the work location to protect the hardware from the weather and other ecological conditions. Engineering groups might return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to perform extra work that does not require the use of the cryogenic centers that are readily available only at the pad.
NASA would require to roll the rocket and spacecraft back to the VAB prior to the next launch effort to reset the systems batteries in order to fulfill the present requirement by the Eastern Range for the certification on the flight termination system.