Posted: Sun, May 20, 2018, 1:40 PM ET (1740 GMT)
NASA is dealing with contamination in tubing located in part of the core stage of the first Space Launch System rocket. At a meeting Thursday, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said it was briefed by NASA about the problem, in which paraffin wax was found in tubing in the engine section of the stage. Removing the wax is a "non-trivial problem," they said, complicated by the large amount of tubing in that section that needs to be inspected and cleaned. The panel did not say if the problem would affect the schedule of the first SLS launch, officially scheduled for December 2019 but which may slip into 2020.

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