Nasa reschedules Artemis I launch for Saturday 3 September

Jon Kelvey
·2 min read
1
NASA Moon Rocket ((NASA/Joel Kowsky) For copyright and restrictions refer to - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html)
NASA Moon Rocket ((NASA/Joel Kowsky) For copyright and restrictions refer to - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html)

After cancelling the launch of its big new Moon rocket at the last minute on Monday, Nasa will make some changes to its approach at the launch pad and try again on Saturday, 3 September.

Nasa officials announced the new launch date at a Tuesday evening press conference and recounted the problems that caused the space agency to scrub the previous launch attempt.

The original launch window for the Artemis I mission opened at 8.33am EDT on Monday, and Nasa had managed to fully fuel it’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, early Monday morning.

But Nasa’s launch team ran into problems when they attempted to thermally condition the main rocket engines on the SLS, chilling them to cold enough temperature to handle the full pressure flows of liquid hydrogen fuel at launch.

“We were unable to get the engines within the thermal conditions for launch,” Artemis Mission Manager Mike Sarafin told reporters Tuesday. “We also had a vent valve issue on the core stage, and it was at that point the team decided to knock off the launch attempt.”

Following the scrubbed launch attempt, Nasa officials told reporters on Monday that no decision would be made on another launch date until the launch teams had a cancer to rest and then review the data from Monday’s failed launch attempt.

Now that everyone was rested and had a chance to think about the situation, Mr Sarafin told reporters Tuesday evening, the consensus was that Nasa should change the fuel loading procedure for the SLS rocket, and begin cooling the engines down sooner. It was also decided to attempt the next launch on Saturday, he said.

“Launch pad time for a Saturday attempt would be 2.17pm EDT,” Mr Sarafin said. “It’s a two hour window.”

If the Saturday launch is scrubbed due to weather, rather than technical problems, “then we could be ready as soon as 48 hours later, Saturday to Monday,” said Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

Prior to Tuesday, Nasa had originally marked Monday 5 September, and Friday 2 September, as backup launch dates if the Monday 29 August launch attempt was cancelled.

Artemis I is the first official mission of Nasa’s Artemis Moon program, which currently aims to put humans back on the lunar surface by 2025. Artemis I will be an uncrewed test flight for the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft the rocket carries, with Orion going on to orbit the Moon during a 42-day mission before returning to Earth.

If successful, Artemis I will lead to Artemis II in 2024, a crewed lunar flyby mission, and Artemis III in 2025, when Nasa astronauts will actually land on the lunar surface.