Continuing the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal test, tanking is now targeted for Monday, teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, encountered an issue maintaining helium purge pressure on the upper stage engine of the SLS rocket.

The RL10 engine on the upper stage uses helium to purge the engine and to activate upper stage valves. The team reestablished normal helium purge, and is continuing work to determine the cause of a restriction in the helium flow.

After the wet dress rehearsal test, SLS and Orion will return to the Vehicle Assembly Building, and engineers will conduct additional inspections of the related flight systems to further evaluate system performance. The Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module as well as the supporting ground system elements remain in stable condition.

The countdown for the two-day test is currently slated to begin with call to stations beginning at 23:00 CEST (22:00 BST) on 9 April with T-0 planned for 20:40 pm on 11 April. While engineers investigate the issue, teams continue to refine the test schedule to account for insights gained during the previous runs and activities, or test objectives, that were completed earlier this week and no longer need to be included in the next test run, such as configuring ground support equipment. 

For up to date news on the wet dress rehearsal follow NASA’s Artemis blog, or watch live on the Kennedy Newsroom YouTube channel. Real-time updates are given on NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Twitter account with “go” for tanking.