After three attempts
to complete a critical fueling test of the Space Launch System rocket, NASA has decided to take a break.
Space Agency Announced
to roll the large SLS rocket from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center to the Vehicle Assembly Building in the coming days.
The decision comes after
3 tries during the last two weeks. Each fueling attempt was scuttled by one or more technical issues with the rocket , its mobile launch tower, or ground systems
During the most recent attempt
on Thursday April 14, NASA succeeded in loading 49 percent of the core-stage liquid oxygen fuel tank and 5 percent of the liquid hydrogen tank
NASA must weigh factors
such as wear and tear on the rocket, its side-mounted boosters being exposed outside, as well as seemingly innumerable lifetime considerations with the hardware.
A program that
is now 11 years old and in which NASA has invested more than $30 billion in the rocket and ground systems now being tested.