NASA scrubbed the test flight on Monday of its giant Moon rocket. They recently discovered a temperature issue with one of the four RS-25 engines. Alternative dates for the launch of the Artemis 1 mission are September 2 and September 5. Artemis 1 is an uncrewed flight around the Moon as part of an ambitious program to eventually go to Mars.
Here’s what NASA has to say: “The launch of #Artemis I is no longer happening today as teams work through an issue with an engine bleed. Teams will continue to gather data, and we will keep you posted on the timing of the next launch attempt.”
The Artemis 1 mission is taking place 50 years after Apollo 17 astronauts last set foot on the Moon
Tens of thousands of people including US Vice President Kamala Harris had gathered along the beach near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the launch.
The goal of the flight, dubbed Artemis 1, is to test the SLS and the Orion crew capsule. It sits atop the rocket. Mannequins equipped with sensors are standing in for a crew for the mission.
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If Artemis I is successful, it could lead to the first crewed SLS-Orion mission, an out-and-back orbital voyage around the moon called Artemis II, as early as 2024, and then an Artemis III excursion to the lunar surface a year or more later.
If all goes as scheduled, in 2025, these astronauts will become the first humans to step on the lunar regolith or dusty moon soil. It is since Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt walked there in December 1972.
“This new deep space exploration system is going to take us back to the moon and to new scientific discoveries that we can’t even imagine yet,” said Randy Lycans, Vice President and General Manager of NASA’s Enterprise Solutions.