Artemis II’s wet dress rehearsal test terminated

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NBC, KYMA) - NASA's preparations for its next moon mission were put on hold after a technical issue during a critical test of the Artemis II rocket.

NASA engineers were forced to halt a wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis II mission Monday after detecting a liquid hydrogen leak during the countdown.

The countdown was terminated just over five minutes before the planned simulated launch after sensors detected a leak at the tail service mast umbilical, an area that had already shown elevated hydrogen levels in the test.

The wet dress rehearsal is designed to fully fuel the space launch system rocket and run through launch procedures without liftoff.

Following the halt, launch controllers began working to place the rocket in a safe configuration and drain its propellant tanks while engineers continued troubleshooting the issue.