NASA Delays 'Wet Dress Rehearsal' for Artemis 1 Moon Rocket Over Safety Concerns

NASA delays its "wet dress rehearsal" for Artemis 1's Space Launch System (SLS) due to safety problems with ground equipment on the booster's mobile launcher platform. The critical fueling test may be resumed tomorrow Monday.

NASA Delays Wet Dress Rehearsal Continues

"Wet dress rehearsal" procedures were scheduled for this weekend in order to allow NASA teams to practice launch procedures without actually igniting the rocket and sending it into space.

Due to the inability to pressurize the mobile launcher, the Artemis team has decided to forego tanking operations for the wet dress rehearsal.

According to NASA: "The fans are needed to provide positive pressure to the enclosed areas within the mobile launcher and keep out hazardous gases. Technicians are unable to safely proceed with loading the propellants into the rocket's core stage and interim cryogenic propulsion stage without this capability."

NASA also added that the Artemis team will determine the next steps and develop a strategy for moving forward.

The next opportunity to move forward with tanking will be on Monday, April 4. As part of the forward plan, teams will discuss the availability of range and commodity options.

During the critical stage of NASA's wet dress rehearsal for the SLS, NASA's launchpad encountered challenging weather.

NASA's Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin stated, "The last 48 hours has been one of the more interesting 48 hours that I've had in the context of working missions leading up to a launch."

Lightning struck the launch pad where NASA's massive Artemis 1 moon rocket was being prepared, but the rocket appeared to be in good condition as technicians worked through the critical test.

As reported by Space.com, in the area around Launch Pad 39B, where NASA's first SLS megarocket was undergoing a three-day fueling test known as part of the "wet dress rehearsal" for its Artemis 1 mission, four lightning strikes struck.

The space technicians have clarified that the rocket is and will be okay despite the weather conditions. The location of the rocket in the launch pad is protected from lightning by three towers and a catenary wire structure, which directs lightning strikes away from the booster and to the ground below it.

NASA Artemis I Launch

NASA's spacecraft to the Moon, the SLS, is in the process of completing a wet dress rehearsal. The wet dress rehearsal for the SLS is conducted in the Launch Pad 39B. The rehearsal is a series of test that would be conducted to assure the technicalities and the rocket is working 100% before they launch Artemis I.

NASA Artemis I launch date will also be determined after an operational wet dress rehearsal. NASA successfully completing the wet dress rehearsal is an important milestone for the agency as it marks the beginning of journeying back to the moon.

NASA conducted the first lunar mission in 1969, during which astronauts touched down on the moon's surface for the first time. NASA's journey to the moon, will be in three missions: NASA Artemis I, Artemis II, and Artemis III.

As previously reported in iTech Post, "aside from stepping on the moon, the space agency also wants to build a lasting presence in lunar space. Aside from lunar exploration, NASA also commits to the goal of sending a person of color and the first female on the lunar surface."