NASA Rolls Back Artemis II Rocket for Repairs
NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has been rolled back from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. The move allows technicians to troubleshoot and make repairs following the discovery of a helium flow issue in the rocket's upper stage. The rollback represents a delay in preparations for the crewed lunar mission.
- The inert gas helium is critical for the rocket's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), where it is used to pressurize the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks and to maintain the correct environmental conditions for the stage's engine. - This is not the first time NASA has encountered this type of problem; engineers are reviewing data from the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which also had to troubleshoot helium-related pressurization of the upper stage before its launch in 2022. - The mission will be the first crewed flight to lunar vicinity since Apollo 17 in 1972 and is crewed by NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. - The 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) journey from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building is a slow and delicate process, taking approximately 10.5 hours to complete atop NASA's Crawler-Transporter 2 vehicle. - In addition to addressing the helium flow, technicians will use the time in the VAB to perform work that
