On Saturday, NASA announced that it planned to roll back the rocket, the Boeing-built Space Launch System, to its hangar at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fix a problem found in the upper portion of the vehicle. NASA engineers found an interruption in the flow of helium — which is needed for launch — in the rocket.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said the work needed to fix the problem could only be done at the giant Vehicle Assembly Building hangar at KSC. He also noted that a similar helium issue had cropped up on the SLS’s first flight back in 2022.
On Thursday, NASA conducted an elaborate dress rehearsal with the rocket, where engineers filled the vehicle with propellant and simulated many of the steps that will take place on launch day. The agency had set the March launch date after that exercise seemed to go smoothly.
