Jacob Ogles
After aborting multiple scheduled launches this week for the Artemis I, NASA may delay liftoff until at least next month.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA’s Artemis launch director, called off off the Artemis I launch on Saturday at 11:17 a.m., according to NASA. Unlike prior cancellations for inclement weather, the most recent nix came after teams encountered a hydrogen leak while loading propellant into the rocket.
While NASA tried to reseat a seal and move ahead with a launch, they could not immediately fix the issue. Engineers attempted to repair the rocket in place three times before the launch was scrubbed.
The difficulty led engineers to forego another early September launch.
“Over the next several days, teams will establish access to the area of the leak at Launch Pad 39B, and in parallel conduct a schedule assessment to provide additional data that will inform a decision on whether to perform work to replace a seal either at the pad, where it can be tested under cryogenic conditions, or inside the Vehicle Assembly Building,” reads NASA’s official Artemis blog.
NASA now intends to roll the 322-foot rocket back to the VAB and to reset all systems. NASA requirements and launch window schedules suggests it will take at least 25 days to schedule the rocket for another launch.
“We’ll go when it’s ready,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former U.S. Senator. “We don’t go until then, and especially now on a test flight, because we are going to stress this and test it and test that heat shield and make sure it’s right before we put four humans up on the top of it.”
Members of Florida’s congressional delegation encouraged patience with the public. The Artemis mission ultimately aims to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in decades, and to provide a step from there to manned missions to Mars.
“We headed out to the Cape for NASA Artemis again this morning,” tweeted Rep. Darren Soto on Saturday. “Sadly, the launch was scrubbed due to faulty seal impeding fueling. We will try again in October. As always, safety first! The path back to the moon, Mars and beyond will test our will. We will continue to move forward!”
4 comments
Chuck Anziulewicz
September 4, 2022 at 11:05 am
I cannot fault NASA for an excess of caution. The Artemis/Orion project is their most ambition mission in a very long time. If anything goes wrong it would set things back years. If anything truly catastrophic happens, it would be a near fatal blow to American manned space exploration.
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No Go
September 4, 2022 at 11:10 am
It’s sad but this pork filled program needs to be shut down. Spending billions on duct taping together shuttle era hardware is a terrible embarrassment. Many people don’t even know that there is no lander component to this system. It is 100% reliant on another vehicle, like the Starship, to actually make it down to the surface. Think about that. The Starship will already be going to and landing on the moon before the SLS system even brings its first lunar astronauts.
This thing will be eclipsed by Starships and other such programs before it makes its first scheduled crewed mission. As long as NASA is bound by politics and beholden to pork addicted senators and congresspersons, they will never be able to move fast enough to truly innovate.
I’m no fan of Musk and I truly want NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts to succeed, but this vehicle isn’t going to be the one to do it.
No Go
September 4, 2022 at 11:25 am
It’s sad but this pork filled program needs to be shut down. Spending billions on duct taping together shuttle era hardware is a terrible embarrassment. Many people don’t even know that there is no lander component to this system. It is 100% reliant on another vehicle, like the Starship, to actually make it down to the surface. Think about that. The Starship will already be going to and landing on the moon before the SLS system even brings its first lunar astronauts.
This thing will be eclipsed by Starships and other such programs before it makes its first scheduled crewed mission. As long as NASA is bound by politics and beholden to pork addicted senators and congresspersons, they will never be able to move fast enough to truly innovate.
I’m no fan of Musk and I truly want NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts to succeed, but this vehicle isn’t going to be the one to do it.
Comments are closed.