Nasa Artemis 1 Moon rocket launch postponed after engine issue
The NASA moon rocket stands ready less than 24 hours before it is scheduled to launch on Pad 39B for the Artemis 1 mission to orbit the moon at the Kennedy Space Center (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Nasa’s Artemis 1 Moon rocket launch has been postponed due to a problem with one of the engines.
The rocket had been due to take off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a two-hour window after 1.33pm Irish time, but was called off by the launch director moments before.
The space agency said: “Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson has called a scrub of the attempt of the launch of Artemis 1.
“The issue that came up was an engine bleed which couldn’t be remedied but the rocket is currently in a stable configuration.
“It was mostly tanked but not completely tanked.
“Engineers are now working on a plan to continue gathering data about this particular engine and the bleed that didn’t work out.”
Nasa added that the first opportunity for the next launch attempt will be September 2 depending on how the engine bleed develops.
Similar leaks hindered Nasa’s countdown tests in April and June.
Nasa was expected to launch its new moon rocket, marking the next chapter in putting humans back on the moon.
The flight would have been the first in the agency’s Artemis programme and will be uncrewed this time.
However, there will be astronauts on board for subsequent missions, with the first crewed flight into space scheduled for 2024.
Nasa expects the first Artemis astronauts to land on the moon in 2025.
The Artemis 1 mission will see the first launch of the new 322ft tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which the agency says is the world’s most powerful rocket to date.
It will take the Orion capsule, powered by the Airbus-built European Service Module (ESM), into the moon’s orbit.
Airbus engineer Sian Cleaver is the industrial manager for the ESM, and as a child dreaming about being involved in human spaceflight before getting a master’s degree in physics and astronomy from Durham University.
She told the PA news agency: “I’m ridiculously excited, and I think everybody on the team is.
“There’s years and years of a labour of love into this project.
“This is the first time that we will have seen one of our European service modules flying in space and going to the moon.
“I think a lot of us couldn’t quite believe it – we’ve now got the go for launch.
“Now, I think it’s really sinking in that this is reality, this is happening, and it’s going to really start this whole new chapter of space exploration, and going to the moon.
“We’re on the brink of something really exciting now.”
Cleaver explained that last time humans went to the moon, some 50 years ago, it was about proving that it could be done whereas the new mission is about proving people can go there for longer and more sustainably.
It will also assess whether some infrastructure can be built on and around the moon, allowing humans to survive on another planetary body.
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