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Updated April 18th, 2022 at 17:55 IST

NASA to roll back its SLS rocket for repairs ahead of SpaceX's Crew-4 mission

NASA has announced that it will roll back its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
NASA
Image: Twitter/@NASA | Image:self
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In a major setback, NASA has announced that it will roll back its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs. The agency had rolled out the gigantic rocket on March 17 for the “wet dress rehearsal” to make the hardware ready for the Artemis I mission. Artemis I, which was scheduled for launch in a couple of months, is an uncrewed mission and would send the Orion spacecraft around the Moon.

NASA to roll back the SLS

The “wet dress rehearsal” had begun on April 1 at the Kennedy Space Center and was supposed to wrap up by April 3. The rehearsal is basically a series of tests wherein the engineers aim to fill the SLS rocket’s engine with propellant and execute a full countdown similar to what would be done on launch day. These tests were supposed to end in three days but several technical faults resulted in an unforeseen delay. 

In a statement released earlier this week, NASA said that it is rolling back the SLS “due to upgrades required at an off-site supplier of gaseous nitrogen used for the test”. Moreover, the engineers would also “replace a faulty upper stage check valve and a small leak on the Tail Service Mast Umbilicals” which supply fuel to the rocket’s core stage engine. 

While the agency has not disclosed a date as to when the rocket would be brought back to the launch pad 39A, it said that the tests would resume in a few days. Notably, the next attempt for the tests would be NASA’s fourth after previous malfunctions on three occasions.

The recent delay was caused on April 15, when a leak of propellant liquid hydrogen (LH2) from the base of the rocket's mobile launcher was found. The next attempt for the SLS test might even collide with the NASA-SpaceX Crew-4 launch to send four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew-4 is scheduled to lift off on April 22, and NASA has said that the Artemis I team will have to wait if the fuelling of the SLS rocket is not complete by then.

Image: Twitter/@NASA

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Published April 18th, 2022 at 17:55 IST

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