NASA’s Space Launch System appears to have some pieces missing and they are claimed to have fallen off. This happened when they were working to take it to the first Artemis mission. However, NASA believes that it is not something to be worried about.
Two NASA officials stated that it is a possible “debris liberation” of pieces from the rocket. In English, that is equivalent to “pieces flying off the uber-expensive and overdue rocket.”
“NASA’s [TV host Derrol] Nail says the launch team has been studying a new issue: The ‘possible liberation’ of the RTV material (a type of caulk),” CNBC space reporter Michael Sheetz tweeted just before the successful Artemis launch. “There is a sensor that ‘is loose’ and ‘is likely to come after launch.'”
“Debris trajectory analysis found ‘no additional risk,'” the reporter tweeted, and noted that Nail claimed that the sensor connected with RTV caulking “was just removed.” We’re not really sure what that means, though.
“Assuming the RTV comes loose,” Sheetz continued, “it’s expected to hit a ‘rigid structure’ of the cone-shaped adapter between Orion and the ICPS that can ‘withstand the impact.'”
This potential “debris liberation” seems to have been confirmed by Artemis mission manager Michael Sarafin, who per SpacePolicyOnline’s Marcia Smith said that “there was some indication we had debris liberation early in ascent,” but that it’s nevertheless “too early to say for sure.”