After months of tests, troubleshooting and repairs, NASA ran into problems during fueling of the Space Launch System moon rocket early Monday, forcing the agency to scrub the planned launch of its Artemis 1 test flight — a critical mission to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a 42-day mission beyond the moon and back.
Launch originally was planned for 8:33 a.m. EDT, the opening of a two-hour window. The next opportunity for launch will be Friday, Sept. 2, at 12:48 p.m. EDT, if the issues are resolved by then.
Rain showers with lightning moved within five nautical miles of launch pad 39B just after midnight, forcing Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson to delay the start of propellant loading by 55 minutes. The six-hour procedure finally got underway at 1:13 a.m. EDT.
Then, a hydrogen leak was discovered as the fueling was taking place. Another issue as the countdown ticked into its final hours was troubleshooting to find the cause of a momentary communications glitch in one of the channels relaying commands and telemetry to and from the Orion spacecraft. Yet another potential problem was a possible indicator of a leak of some sort, a crack in thermal insulation or some other issue spotted on the exterior of the rocket’s core stage.
The Artemis 1 rocket element of the project will launch the Orion spacecraft and its European Space Agency-supplied Orion service module into space, out of Earth orbit, and onto a trajectory toward the moon in only one hour and 36 minutes.
Orion will quickly return to a far-off orbit around the moon after a close flyby at a height of just 60 miles for two weeks of testing and checkout.
If all goes according to plan, the capsule will fall back toward the moon for a second close flyby on October 3. This will trigger a swift return to Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on October 10.
In 2024, NASA intends to deploy four people on a looping around-the-moon voyage as a follow-up to the Artemis 1 mission, laying the groundwork for the first human landing in over 50 years, somewhere around the south pole. In the years 2025–2026, the first man and the second man could set foot on the moon.
Future astronauts may be able to “mine” that ice if it is extant and accessible, turning it into oxygen, water, and even rocket fuel to significantly lower the cost of deep space travel. It is thought that there may be ice deposits in lunar craters close to the pole.
In general, Artemis astronauts will conduct in-depth exploration and study to find out more about the moon’s creation and development as well as to test the equipment and processes needed to transport people to Mars.
But before launching Artemis 1, NASA must demonstrate that the rocket and capsule will function as intended.
The Artemis 1 mission’s objective is to test the Orion spacecraft’s solar power, propulsion, navigation, and life support systems before its October 10 return to Earth and a 25,000 mph dive back into the atmosphere that would expose its protective heat shield to a horrifying 5,000 degrees.
The primary objective of the Artemis 1 mission is to test the heat shield and ensure that it can defend people returning from deep space.
