NASA has powered its huge lunar rocket for the first time and has conducted a critical countdown test despite a fuel line leak.
This was NASA’s fourth crack in the general rehearsal, the last major milestone ahead of the long-awaited lunar rocket launch debut.
Earlier attempts in April were thwarted by a fuel leak, as well as jammed valves and other technical problems.
Another leak, this time at an external fuel line, nearly reduced Monday’s test at Kennedy Space Center. But NASA administrators decided to run the countdown test anyway.
Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said they went ahead to see “how the team performed, how the hardware worked and both worked very well.”
Engineers wanted to reach the nine-second mark, shortly before the engine started, to validate all systems and procedures. However, it was cut to 29 seconds.
NASA spokesman Derrol Nail said it was not immediately known why the countdown was stopped.
Earlier, about a million gallons of liquid hydrogen and super-cold oxygen were loaded into the 98-meter rocket known as the Space Launch System (SLS).
Test delays have pushed the actual launch, with an empty Orion capsule flying around the moon and back in, as early as the end of August. This test flight is crucial before astronauts board.
Blackwell-Thompson said it was too early to tell what NASA’s next step might be.
The second SLS flight, scheduled for 2024, would send a crew around the moon and back. The third mission, not before 2025, would cause astronauts to land on the moon.
Astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972 during NASA’s Apollo program. The new program is called Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology.