KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft mega moon rocket for the Artemis II crewed moonshot mission has begun its rollback from launch pad 39B to the VAB at 9:38 a.m. EST, Feb. 25, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida – to fix the helium flow interruption issue detected in the ICPS upper stage during testing overnight Feb. 21 at Launch Complex 39B.
Rolling back from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy was delayed a few days by poor weather
The approximately 4-mile trek is expected to take up to 12 hours – similar to rollout on Jan. 17.
Once back in the VAB, teams will immediately begin work to install platforms to access the area of the helium flow issue in the rockets ICPS upper stage to diagnose and fix it
NASA Artemis II will launch four astronauts around the Moon and back on a 10 days test flight – on the first mission to send humans to the Moon in over 50 years since Apollo 17 in Dec. 1972.
Enjoy our Gallery of Rollback photos for Space UpClose from the team of Ken Kremer and Jean Wright – which will be posted in several galleries.
The Helium forced the rollback which also forced an Artemis II launch delay from early March to the NET early April window – TBD.
A livestream of the rollback will be streamed on the agency’s YouTube channel.
While in the assembly building, technicians will not just troubleshoot and fix the helium flow issue to the rocket’s upper stage, but also used the time to simultaneously replace batteries on the rocket’s upper stage, core stage, and solid rocket boosters as well as service its flight termination system.
The quick timing of the rollback also preserves NASA the option of preserving the best possibility to launch Artemis II in the April launch window – which extends from April 1 to April 6
This unfortunate problem comes right after NASA completed a fully successful cryogenic fueling test and simulated launch countdown test of its SLS (Space Launch System) mega moon rocket during the 2nd attempt at a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) on Thursday, Feb. 19 at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Detailks about the Helium clog here from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2025249086908125630
– The ICPS helium bottles are used to purge the engines, as well as for LH2 and LOX tank pressurization. The systems did work correctly during WDR1 and WDR2.
– Last evening, the team was unable to get helium flow through the vehicle. This occurred during a routine operation to repressurize the system.
– We observed a similar failure signature on Artemis I.
– The Artemis II vehicle is in a safe configuration, using ground ECS purge for the engines versus the onboard helium supply.
– Potential faults could include the final filter between the ground and flight vehicle, located on the umbilical, though this seems least likely based on the failure signature. It could also be a failed QD umbilical interface, where similar issues have been observed. It could also be a failed check valve onboard the vehicle, which would be consistent with Artemis I, though corrective actions were taken to minimize reoccurrence on Artemis II.
Regardless of the potential fault, accessing and remediating any of these issues can only be performed in the VAB.
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