Why Is NASA Keeping Media Out Of Its Crucial Mega Moon Rocket Test?

Today, Friday March 1, NASA is performing a major test of its next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), along with a capsule which will eventually carry humans to the moon under the Artemis program. The SLS rocket will be brought to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for what's called a "wet dress rehearsal," in which the rocket will go through preparations as if for a real launch, including being filled with fuel. But the rocket won't actually go anywhere.

This is one of its final tests to determine whether everything is operating as expected before a launch that could happen as soon as this year.

However, this particular test is unusual in its relative secrecy. Traditionally, NASA has been extremely transparent about the testing process for its hardware, including for rockets. This is to both keep the public informed and drum up interest in its projects. However, today's event for SLS will be closed to the media, with no in-person attendance. This has raised eyebrows among the space community –- particularly since SLS is already far behind schedule and over budget, and it had been assumed that NASA would want to promote the test of the new rocket, not make it more secretive.

As prominent space publisher Steven Young wrote on Twitter: "Never in the history of U.S. human spaceflight has the press corps or the public been left this much in the dark about a new NASA vehicle."

Space reporter Joey Roulette tweeted that the Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Division, Tom Whitmeyer, suggested that one reason the press won't have access to the wet dress rehearsal is due to national security concerns. He named concerns over the U.S.'s International Traffic in Arms Regulations regulation and "fears that adversaries will glean cryogenic timing info for clues into ballistic missile systems" as reasons that the countdown will not be made public.

Whether the viewing of the countdown would be against any government regulation is a complicated legal question, but it seems odd that NASA has only stated this concern now. It could be that rising tensions with Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine have made government agencies more conservative about what they are willing to share.

Space experts are still debating exactly why NASA has made this decision and whether or not it is legally sound. The upshot seems to be, as space reporter Eric Berger put it, "The most likely explanation for NASA keeping the SLS countdown loop private is not a desire to conceal a mistake or something, but probably an overzealous government lawyer somewhere."

The wet dress rehearsal will begin today and run over the weekend. You can watch video of the rocket on the pad -– although there's no audio or commentary -– at the Kennedy Newsroom YouTube channel, or you can follow progress at the Artemis blog.