NASA fuels up giant Artemis 2 moon rocket. Yes, it’s a little leaky. So is it ready to fly?

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NASA’s big moon rocket is leaking a bit, but it might just be ready to carry astronauts beyond Earth.

The space agency today (February 2) conducted a crucial refueling test with the Artemis 2 assignment Space Launch System (SLS), loading more than 700,000 gallons (2.65 million liters) of cryogenic liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) into the double-decker vehicle on Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

Teams had to stop loading LH2 into the SLS core stage twice to fix the leaks, but they managed to fix the problem in relatively short order and refill the rocket’s massive tanks.

Today’s tanking was the trickiest part of Artemis 2’s wet dress rehearsal, a two-day training run through the operations that will precede an actual launch.

Currently, NASA is targeting February 8 for the liftoff of Artemis 2, which will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the moon. But this depends on successful wet holding, as well as a number of other factors, such as good weather conditions, for example.

It’s too early to tell whether or not NASA considers the wet dress a complete success; After all, the exercise is still ongoing and may not conclude until 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) Tuesday, February 3.

But we might get an answer Tuesday at 12 p.m. EST (5 p.m. GMT), when the agency holds a press conference about the wet dress. You will be able to watch this briefing live here on Space.com when the time comes.

It was not surprising that leaks occurred today when loading LH2, given the small size of this molecule; it can pass through the smallest cracks. And history is a guide here too: the Artemis 1 the launch campaign was delayed several times by LH2 leaks and other problems.

This mission, the first of NASA’s missions Artemis Program exploration of the Moon, was initially scheduled to be launched in spring 2022, but it did not take off until November 16 of the same year.

However, things went well after takeoff: Artemis 1 managed to send a Orion capsule to lunar orbit and return to Earth, showing that Artemis hardware can handle a crewed mission to deep space.

NASA is taking many lessons learned from Artemis 1 to Artemis 2 and beyond – and some of those lessons have apparently come in handy today.

The LH2 leaks that affected Artemis 1 centered on an interface with the tail service mast umbilical (TSMU), a line that carries propellant from the mobile launch tower to the rocket. The two leaks observed during today’s wet suit also occurred at a TSMU interface, according to a NASA update. But the mission team quickly resolved the issue and moved on.