Space & Astronomy
September 6, 2022 | 10 comments
It has been a frustrating few days. Image Credit: NASA / Joel Kowsky
Following two scrubbed launches due to various issues, the likelihood of the mission going ahead this month is looking bleak.
In the run-up to August 29th, excitement surrounding the launch of Artemis I – the first step in NASA’s plans to return humans to the Moon – had reached fever pitch.
On the day itself, however, a faulty sensor reading caused the launch to be scrubbed and the date was pushed back to the next window of September 3rd.
Unfortunately, this second attempt also failed due to a fuel leak, leaving a big question mark over the launch and exactly when NASA would be putting its Space Launch System (SLS) into space.
As things stand, NASA will need to conduct repairs on the rocket to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again and this is likely to take some time.
The next available launch window is September 16th to October 4th, however it is not clear exactly how long it will be before the rocket will be ready for another attempt.
There is also a potential conflict with the Space X Crew-5 flight scheduled to take off on October 3rd.
Because of this, the next launch window on October 17th could be a more likely possibility.
The delays are certainly frustrating, not least for the scientists and engineers who have been working to make Artemis a reality for the last few years.
With any luck, things will be able to go ahead as planned later on next month.
Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (10)
