Ground equipment glitch delays moon rocket dress rehearsal
CBSN
NASA called off plans to load its new Space Launch System moon rocket with more than 750,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel Sunday because of trouble with launch pad support equipment need to prevent buildups of hazardous gas. The team plans to try again Monday.
The giant 322-foot-tall SLS rocket was hauled to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on March 18 for a dress-rehearsal countdown to clear the way for its maiden blastoff early this summer to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a flight beyond the moon and back.
The countdown started Friday afternoon and reached the T-minus 6-hour point early Sunday when engineers had planned to begin pumping 196,000 gallons liquid oxygen and 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen into the rocket's core stage. Another 22,000 gallons of cryogenic oxygen and hydrogen fuel was to be loaded into its upper stage.
