NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B

NASA says it will replace at the launch pad the leaky seal that scrubbed Saturday’s latest Artemis 1 moon launch attempt, but its teams may still have to roll the rocket back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) before another launch attempt. The agency said late Wednesday afternoon that it will issue an update Thursday at 10 a.m. CDT.

Crews plan to replace a seal called the “quick disconnect” between the liquid hydrogen fuel line on the mobile launcher and the rocket. Technicians working on the leak set up “an enclosure around the work area to protect the hardware from weather and other environmental conditions,” NASA said Tuesday night.

NASA would prefer to keep working work at Launch Pad 39B saying it allows the team “to gather as much data as possible to understand the cause of the (fueling) issue.” Being at the pad also allows engineers to test the repair under super-cold conditions.

Teams will also check multiple connection points on the rocket to make sure there are no more leaks. The rocket has seven umbilical lines. NASA said it will also check plate covers on other umbilical interfaces.

However, NASA said to meet current launch range rules, it still “would need to roll the rocket and spacecraft back to the VAB before the next launch attempt to reset the system’s batteries.”

NASA has stopped the countdown on two launch attempts for fueling problems. The next launch window opens Sept. 19 and closes Oct. 4. There are 14 launch opportunities in that period, but none on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30.

NASA says the launch windows “account for the complex orbital mechanics involved in launching on a precise trajectory toward the Moon while the Earth is rotating on its axis and the Moon is orbiting Earth in its lunar cycle.”

Artemis 1 is the first of three planned flights to return Americans to the lunar surface. An uncrewed Orion capsule will make this first trip around the moon, and two astronauts will be on the second trip around. The first woman and first person of color to land on the moon will crew the third trip.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville designed the rocket, and the design is primarily to take advantage of remaining space shuttle engines. The design was stress tested in Huntsville, and its computer software was written at Marshall. Marshall engineers and technicians are at the launch site now working on the pre-flight issues

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