![]() ![]() The helium valve inside the upper stage cannot be replaced until the rocket is back in its hangar at Kennedy Space Center. Technicians deliberately left the smaller upper stage empty, after discovering a bad valve the week before. Liquid hydrogen is extremely hazardous, with officials noting that the systems had been checked for leaks prior to the test. This time, the launch team managed to load some super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen into the core stage of the 30-story Space Launch System rocket, but fell far short of the full amount. This was NASA's third shot at a dress rehearsal, a required step ahead of a test flight to the moon. The launch team had just begun loading fuel into the core stage of the rocket when the leak cropped up last week. NASA's latest attempt to fuel its huge moon rocket for a countdown test was thwarted by a hazardous hydrogen leak, the latest in a series of vexing problems.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |