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NASA on Monday called off the launch of the historic Artemis I mission due to a failure in one of the engines of the powerful SLS rocket, which was to have lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the Orion capsule on top, bound for the moon, in what was to be the return of a spacecraft to the Earth’s satellite after almost 50 years.
The setbacks began early in the morning when a storm prevented fueling at the scheduled time. Then one of the rocket’s four RS-25 engines failed to cool to the proper temperature for liftoff, which was scheduled for 8:33 local time (12:33 GMT) from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center.
NASA engineers decided to pause the countdown while they tried to correct the failure, but finally, on the hour, announced the suspension until further notice of the launch of this uncrewed mission, the first of three planned in the coming years with which the space agency hopes to send humans back to Earth’s satellite.
NASA engineers were aiming for a two-hour launch window, but analysis and data collection on the problem will take longer.
The next possible launch date for the mission is next Friday, but NASA has not yet confirmed this. In addition to that day, the US space agency is considering 5 September as an alternative date.
The countdown clock of the SLS rocket with an Orion capsule, part of the Artemis 1 mission, is on a hold at T-40 minutes at pad 39B in the Kennedy Space Center in Merrit Island, Florida, USA, on 29 August 2022.
Kamala Harris on the mission
The great expectation aroused by the first of the Artemis program missions, with which NASA wants to lay the foundations for a permanent human presence on the moon and “beyond,” to the point of gathering at least 100,000 visitors on Florida’s Space Coast who wanted to witness the launch on Monday, according to estimates by the local tourist office.
Among the authorities gathered at the Kennedy Center was VP Kamala Harris, President of the National Space Council. After the suspension announcement, reiterated that the Government’s commitment to the Artemis program remains firm.
In statements to the press, the vice president highlighted the work of NASA engineers and scientists.
In turn, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson justified the “prudent” decision to suspend today’s launch. He recalled that this mission, which was to make a six-week round trip to the moon and back, sought to test the capabilities of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and the Orion capsule.
The space agency manager was a crew member on a 1986 Space Shuttle program mission, which, as he recalled today, was aborted four times before a successful liftoff.
Today’s suspension is a setback for a mission that some media have estimated to cost $4 billion and which was the full debut of the SLS rocket, 320 feet tall (taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty) and the most powerful ever built, thanks to its four RS-25 engines and two attached boosters.
The rocket, whose design and construction have suffered delays, also had problems completing major pre-launch tests, one of which occurred in June and concerned the liquid hydrogen loading.
This morning’s failure was related to the RS-25 engine’s inability to reach the proper temperature it should be at liftoff, following the liquid hydrogen charge.
Artemis I also wants to calibrate the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft, which can accommodate up to four crew members and has water and oxygen reserves that would allow it to travel independently for about 20 days.
After separation from the SLS rocket, within two hours of liftoff, Orion should be able to continue on its own for a total journey of about 1.3 million miles.
In line with Artemis I, the spacecraft will fly close to the Moon, almost 62 miles from its surface, and then enter a distant lunar orbit in which it will reach a distance of more than 37,000 miles from the Earth’s satellite, i.e., as far as no other crew capsule has ever gone.
The Artemis program is tasked with taking over from its predecessor, the Apollo program, whose last mission, Apollo 17, took place in 1972 and represents the last time man has landed on the lunar surface.
