NASA detects hydrogen leak during fueling test of Artemis II rocket launch; what is this first crewed lunar mission?

Space Agency said Engineers are actively monitoring hydrogen concentrations at the tail service mast umbilical, the site of a previous leak and report that the levels are currently stable.

International space agency NASA reported a leak while fueling its new moon rocket on Monday during a critical test that will decide when astronauts can launch on a lunar flyby mission (Artemis II). 

The launch team started loading the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket with extremely cold hydrogen and oxygen at Kennedy Space Center around midday. The process required over 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) to fill the tanks and stay onboard for several hours, simulating the final moments of a real launch countdown. 

However, just a few hours into the daylong fueling process, unusually high levels of hydrogen were detected near the base of the rocket. As a result, hydrogen loading was paused, leaving only half of the core stage filled.

The launch team quickly worked to address the issue using methods developed during the first Space Launch System rocket launch three years earlier, which had also experienced hydrogen leaks before eventually taking off.

The crew members, including three Americans and one Canadian, monitored the final important dress rehearsal from distance of nearly 1,600 kilometrs 

The crew members, three Americans and one Canadian, monitored the important dress rehearsal from nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away in Houston, where Johnson Space Center is located. They had been in quarantine for the past week and a half, waiting to see the results of the practice countdown.

The all-day operation will decide when they can blast off on the first lunar mission by a crew in more than half a century.

The mission has already suffered two days delay because of bitter cold snap. As per the reports the Hydrogen leaks had prompted the first SLS rocket on the pad for months in 2022.

If the fueling test is finished successfully and on schedule, NASA could launch commander Reid Wiseman and his crew to the moon as early as Sunday. The rocket must be launched by February 11, or the mission will be postponed until March. NASA only has a limited number of launch days each month, and February’s already tight window has been reduced by two days due to extreme cold conditions.

During the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal, NASA teams have switched all cryogenic tanks on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to replenish mode. This applies to both the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks in the core stage as well as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. 

Space Agency said Engineers are actively monitoring hydrogen concentrations at the tail service mast umbilical, the site of a previous leak and report that the levels are currently stable.

What is Artemis II mission and why it is important? 

Artemis II is NASA's upcoming crewed lunar mission, the second in the Artemis program, set to launch in February 2026. It will send four astronauts, Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist; Victor Glover, pilot; Reid Wiseman, commander; and Christina Hammock Koch, aboard the Orion spacecraft on a 10-day flight using the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The crew will orbit Earth, travel to the Moon, perform a flyby around its far side on a free-return trajectory, and return to Earth without landing, marking the first human venture beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

According to the NASA, Artemis II builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I in the year 2022, and will demonstrate a wide range of capabilities needed on deep space missions.

The Artemis II test flight will be space agency's first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft. This marks a crucial move toward long-term return to the Moon and future mission to Mars. 

This mission's importance lies in testing Orion's life-support, navigation, and deep-space capabilities with humans aboard, paving the way for Artemis III's lunar landing and establishing a sustainable Moon presence.