Washington, DC, US: Ground crews at Kennedy Space Center have fueled the main fuel tanks of NASA’s towering next-generation moon rocket in preparation for its maiden flight, which will launch the Artemis program of the American space agency 50 years after the last Apollo lunar mission.

A recent valve leak led engineers to momentarily halt the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage, but a team rushed to the launch site and quickly fixed the issue. Later, the space agency revealed that a malfunctioning ethernet switch was the cause of issues with radar tracking the rocket’s flight path.

A two-hour launch window with 90 percent favourable weather is scheduled to open at 1:04 AM local time. The Artemis 1 mission, an unmanned test flight, is the first stage in America’s strategy to establish a long-term presence on the Moon and learn from its experiences there to get ready for a future journey to Mars in the 2030s.

The 32-story tall Space Launch System rocket will be launched for the first time and is the most potent ever created. The orange and white behemoth is awaiting its first flight at the renowned Kennedy Space Center, where the countdown has begun. If necessary, two backup dates are planned for November 19th and 25th.

NASA is counting on a successful mission after spending more than a decade creating the SLS rocket. By the end of 2025, it will have spent more than $90 billion on its new lunar program. In 2024, astronauts will fly by the Moon as part of Artemis 2.

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