{"id":11177,"date":"2022-11-16T23:53:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T15:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-calls-on-red-crew-to-fix-leak-near-mostly-fueled-artemis-moon-rocket\/"},"modified":"2022-11-16T23:53:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T15:53:19","slug":"nasa-calls-on-red-crew-to-fix-leak-near-mostly-fueled-artemis-moon-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-calls-on-red-crew-to-fix-leak-near-mostly-fueled-artemis-moon-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA calls on \u201cred crew\u201d to fix leak near mostly fueled Artemis moon rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (left) meets with members of the \u201cred crew\u201d after they repaired a hydrogen leak at the Artemis 1 moon rocket\u2019s launch pad. The red crew members, from left to right, were Billy Cairns, cryogenic engineering technician; Chad Garrett, safety engineer; and Trent Annis, cryogenic engineering technician. Credit: NASA\/Sam Lott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s Space Launch System moon rocket relied on advanced guidance algorithms, powerful cryogenic engines, and millions of lines of software code to get it off the ground for the first time Wednesday. But \u201cthere are also times when you\u2019ve just got to put a wrench on a nut,\u201d NASA\u2019s Artemis ground systems program manager said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what NASA did in the final hours of the Artemis 1 mission\u2019s countdown late Tuesday night, when the launch team called upon a \u201cred crew\u201d of two specially-trained technicians and a safety engineer to torque nuts around a leaky hydrogen valve inside a compartment on the moon rocket\u2019s mobile launch platform.<\/p>\n

Trent Annis, Billy Cairns, and Chad Garrett drove to pad 39B with the 322-foot-tall SLS moon rocket loaded with three-quarters of a million pounds of combustive hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen. The cryogenic propellants need to be slowly replenished throughout the countdown as the fluids boil off, and the valve responsible for continuing to feed hydrogen into the core stage of the rocket was leaking.<\/p>\n

They spent nearly an hour at the launch pad. The red crew personnel climbed stairs to reach the \u201czero deck\u201d of the mobile launch platform, then walked across the 158-foot by 133-foot deck to take another set of stairs down into a compartment near the side of the structure. The platform is the table on which the SLS moon rocket sat during the countdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went up there and tightened her up,\u201d Annis said in an interview aired on NASA TV after the launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say is we were very excited,\u201d he said. \u201cI was ready to get up there and go.\u201d<\/p>\n