If the mission succeeds, a crewed Artemis II flight around the moon and back could come as early as 2024, to be followed within a few more years with the program's first lunar landing of astronauts, one of them a woman, with Artemis III.īilled as the most powerful, complex rocket in the world, the SLS represents the biggest new vertical launch system NASA has built since the Saturn V of the Apollo era. Its first voyage is intended to put the 5.75-million-pound vehicle through its paces in a rigorous test flight pushing its design limits and aiming to prove the spacecraft suitable to fly astronauts. Getting the SLS-Orion spacecraft off the ground is a key first step. The new moon program has enlisted commercial partners such as SpaceX and the space agencies of Europe, Canada and Japan to eventually establish a long-term lunar base of operations as a stepping stone to even more ambitious human voyages to Mars. But Apollo, born of the U.S.-Soviet space race during the Cold War, was less science-driven than Artemis. Twelve astronauts walked on the moon during six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, the only spaceflights yet to place humans on the lunar surface. The Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the moon's surface as early as 2025, though many experts believe that time frame will likely slip. It also signals a major change in direction for NASA's post-Apollo human spaceflight program, after decades focused on low-Earth orbit with space shuttles and the International Space Station. The mission calls for the Orion capsule fixed atop the rocket to spend 37 days in space, orbiting the Moon from about 60 miles away.ĭubbed Artemis I, the mission marks the first flight for both the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule, built under NASA contracts with Boeing and Lockheed Martin, respectively. The rocket, officially dubbed Space Launch System (SLS), and the Orion capsule atop it are in position for launch at Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The $4.1 billion test flight is the first step in NASA's Artemis program of renewed lunar exploration, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology. The previous launch bid on Monday was also halted by engineering snags, in a disappointment to dignitaries including Vice President Kamala Harris who was in attendance to watch the launch. The ambitious Artemis program, a NASA partnership with SpaceX and the space agencies of Europe, Japan, and Canada, eventually aims to establish a lunar base as a stepping stone to interplanetary space missions. Saturday's planned launch would have marked a major step in humanity's return to the moon, 50 years after the last Apollo lunar mission, with the Artemis program aiming for crewed flights to lunar orbit as soon as 2024. Liquid hydrogen leaks have been a persistent issue in the attempts to launch the SLS, including during 'wet dress rehearsals' to practice fully fueling the rocket and counting down to T-minus 10 seconds, but halting the sequence before ignition.ĭespite conducting four such rehearsals since April, NASA ended each rehearsal prematurely, and so far has not conducted a full fueling sequence either in a wet rehearsal or real-world launch attempt. The launch scrub in Cape Canaveral, Florida came after several attempts to fix a leak in the rocket's liquid hydrogen fueling system failed, setting the delicate fueling operation several hours behind schedule. NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson issued the 'no-go' order on Saturday morning's failed attempt at T-minus 2:28:53, aborting the Artemis 1 mission for a second time in an embarrassing setback to the billion dollar program. 'The cost of two scrubs is a lot less than a failure,' said Nelson.Īs blastoff won't be completed by Tuesday, the 32-story Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule will have to be removed from the launch pad for required technical inspection in the Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the shuttle was sent back to the Vehicle Assembly Building 20 times before the attempted launch. Jim Free, associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said 'we will not be launching in this period,' as the agency is 'not where we wanted to be.' After yet another cancelled launch on Saturday, NASA's Artemis 1 rocket will not lift off during this launch period, which ends on Tuesday, likely pushing the date back to October.
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