NASA will not attempt to lift its space launch system in the coming days, the agency said, skipping potential launch windows on Monday and Tuesday. The space agency is now aiming for a launch in October.
NASA postponed its Artemis I lunar mission again on Saturday, after making a second attempt to get the mission unmanned. NASA will not lift off Artemis I for the remainder of the current launch periodwhich ends on Tuesday, because the rocket would have encountered several technical problems.
While the first launch was canceled due to a problem with engine number three, the culprit this time around was a liquid hydrogen leak that appeared while the team was loading the rocket’s core stage. According to the space agency, multiple troubleshooting attempts to repair the area of the leak, by refitting a seal in the quick-connect where liquid hydrogen is fed into the rocket, have failed to resolve the problem “.
The Artemis 1 mission will not finally start until the end of the year
Rather than attempt a new launch in the coming days, NASA has finally announced that it will have to wait several more weeks before a new attempt. ” We don’t throw [la fusée] before deciding that it is the right time said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
The mission management team will meet on Tuesday to assess the next steps for the mission. The next possible launch windows according to NASA are September 19 to October 4then from October 17 to 31. It is therefore very likely that NASA will wait until October to ensure that his rocket is in good condition to take off. By then, we might be able to witness the first flight of Starship, Elon Musk’s giant rocket that will take humanity to Mars.
A successful launch would mark the start of a 42-day mission that will send the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit and will test essential technologies such as a heat shield which will protect the spacecraft during a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. If the mission goes well, Artemis II will follow in a few years and carry humans around the Moon. A moon landing is expected later this decade, probably around 2025.