NEW YORK — NASA kicked off Monday its plan to send an unmanned space capsule into the moon's orbit, marking the initial launch in an ambitious plan to establish a long term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development.
NEW YORK — NASA kicked off Monday its plan to send an unmanned space capsule into the moon’s orbit, marking the initial launch in an ambitious plan to establish a long term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development.
Melody Lovin, launch weather officer at the U.S. Space Force, said the weather forecast is currently a 60% go overall and 80% toward the end of the two-hour window, If the launch needs to be delayed until Monday, the forecast is a 70% go.Sep 01, 6:57 PM EDTThe Artemis I launch attempt is still planned for Saturday from 2:17-4:17 p.m. ET, NASA officials said during a press conference Thursday.
If the launch is Saturday, the mission will be 37 days long, with the splashdown on Oct. 11, Serafin said.Artemis not launching Friday due to weather, NASA says If the launch does not occur by Monday, Artemis I will have to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building and won’t be able to launch until later in September.
However, John Honeycutt, manager of the Space Launch System Program from Marshall Space Flight Center, said the problem may have actually come from a faulty sensor, rather than the engine not cooling down enough. One of the reasons for the scrub on Monday was because engine three did not cool down enough to the point needed for ignition, he explained yesterday.
He added,"It was the better part of a month and, looking back, after the fifth try got off to a perfect mission. It would have not been a good day had we launched on any one of those four scrubs. So when you're dealing in a high-risk business and spaceflight is risky, that's what you do."NASA officials said there is no sign one of the engines needs to replaced on the Artemis I rocket after the launch was scrubbed.
"I don't recall exactly where the engines were but engines one, two and four were pretty close to that. Three was not getting there," he told reporters during a media briefing Monday afternoon. "I am very proud of this launch team. They have solved several problems along the way and they got to one that needed time to be solved," he told reporters.
According to a White House official, Harris and Emhoff will continue with their visit under a revised itinerary. He said the vice president has been briefed and the White House will continue to receive regular updates.NASA announced a few minutes after Artemis I was initially scheduled to lift off that the launch has been scrubbed.