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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 troubling equipment trouble.
The launch team had just begun loading fuel into the core stage of the rocket when the leak cropped up. This was Nasa’s third shot at a dress rehearsal, a required step ahead of a test flight to the moon.
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.
During an attempt to transition to fast fill for core stage hydrogen a leak was identified in the tail service mast umbilical. Teams have paused LH2 and the rocket is currently in a safe configuration.-JP
— NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) April 14, 2022
Liquid hydrogen is extremely hazardous, with officials noting that the systems had been checked for leaks prior to the test.
Technicians deliberately left the smaller upper stage empty, after discovering a bad valve last week.
The helium valve inside the upper stage cannot be replaced until the rocket is back in its hangar at Kennedy Space Centre.
Two previous countdown attempts were marred by fan issues and a large hand-operated valve that workers mistakenly left closed at the pad last week.
Officials said via Twitter that they are assessing their next steps.
Nasa had been targeting June for the launch debut of the 322-foot SLS rocket. The empty Orion capsule on top will be sent on a four to six-week mission around the moon and back.
Astronauts will strap in for the second test flight around the moon, planned for 2024. That would be followed as early as 2025 with the first lunar landing by astronauts since 1972.
Nasa plans to announce the crews for these two missions this summer.
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I really hope they charge them, it’s the right road to take and might make other parents think twice about buying a gun for a 15 year old on black Friday!?! What a pair of human meat sacks…. They need to answer to the poor parents of the kids he killed. What a warped country.
@Dawn Harvey: they have been charged. It’s why they are in court.
@transik: a few teens hanging around on a street corner is the exact same as multiple school shootings every year alright.
The comments section for this article is open but the one below it about Prince Andrew is closed??
Are they not just as responsible as the leader who instigated the Capitol building riots? Leading to murdr
@Dean: “Are they not just as responsible as the leader who instigated the Capitol building riots? Leading to murdr”
Who was murdered at the Capitol riot?
@Dean: what murder?
If you start charging people over the actions of their children, where do you stop. And where’s the line. I just don’t see this case sticking at all. The fact they’re having a break in the case has all the signalling that this case won’t stand up. And I think that’s the right decision. Sure you can charge someone with not safety storing a weapon but this leap to murder is far too remote. This case is a knee jerk reaction by local authorities towards a grieving community.
@RogersRabbit: the father bought a gun for his 15-year old and knew about his intention to carry out a school massacre. That’s at least manslaughter, if not enticing to murder.
@RogersRabbit: the school asked the parents to remove the child from school and to bring him to a counsellor because of his concerning behaviour. They refused and left the child in school, without any support. They have at the very least neglected their own child big way, that’s criminally punishable
@RogersRabbit: michigan is one of the only, if not the only state in the USA that doesn’t require that a gun be stored under lock and key by law. However it is illegal for someone under the age of 18 to possess a handgun there and they bought it for him for his 16th birthday. Furthermore the mother told the kid not to get caught in future when the school reported that he was caught looking at amunition on his phone. I agree that it’s going to be tough to get the manslaughter charges to stick though. Which is a pity because his parents come across as s c u m. Hopefully they’ll get some sort of federal conviction so they are never able to own guns again.
@Sebastian Manka: that hasn’t been established. The father buying a gun and the parents being told teachers were concerned about him once or twice are two independent things.
@Daniela Monza: since when is not bringing your child to a counsellor criminally punishable. There’s a big diff between being a bad parent and one that should be in prison.
@RogersRabbit: they failed to secure their weapon as the law requires resulting in the commission of a crime. We don’t need further gun laws; we need the existing laws enforced.
Because he is 15 and the crimes he’s alleged to have committed are so serious. And at 15 he’s old enough to know what he did was wrong. Also the age at with serious crimes are been committed is dropping, and consideration is taken into account if this person poses a serious threat or is likely to reoffend.
Could someone explain why/how he is being tried as an adult please?
@Waylanderj: it is a legal option subject to a legal challenge pending his mental health evaluation. Setting an arbitrary age is not a standard across the US. Do you think a standard period is superior to an individual maturity assessment? His trial should he plead not guilty, will be informative.
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