NASA scrubs launch of Artemis I after multiple issues emerge on massive SLS moon rocket
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Aug. 29 (UPI) -- After years of conceptualizing, planning and testing, NASA on Monday hoped to take the initial operational step toward returning human astronauts to the moon for the first time in a half-century -- but technical issues scrubbed the historic flight.
Artemis I, the long-awaited first mission that will pave the way for humans to return to the lunar surface, was scheduled to lift off from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday aboard the massive new Space Launch System for a 42-day mission that will send the Orion spacecraft to the moon and back.
Eventually, in several years, the rocket and spacecraft will be used to send humans back to the moon.
The launch window opened at 8:33 a.m. EDT from Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida, but there were problems with the temperature of the hydrogen fuel on engine number three on the SLS' core stage, which is the large orange tank. It has four main engines.
Launch controllers issued an unplanned countdown hold at T-40 minutes to launch due to the issue and engineers and flight managers weighed the problem before launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson ultimately called off the launch for Monday.
Artemis 1, shown here on August 25, will orbit the moon as the first step for the United States to send astronauts back to the moon after 50 years. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
NASA said none of the attempted remedies worked and it was decided that flight controllers wouldn't have enough time to fix it before the two-hour launch window closed.
"The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft remain in a safe and stable configuration," NASA said in a statement. "Launch controllers were continuing to evaluate why a bleed test to get the RS-25 engines on the bottom of the core stage to the proper temperature range for liftoff was not successful and ran out of time in the two-hour launch window. Engineers are continuing to gather additional data."
NASA announced Tuesday that it has set a new launch date for Saturday afternoon.
During the rehearsal, the launch team went through operations to load propellant into the rocket's tanks, conducted a full launch countdown, demonstrated the ability to recycle the countdown clock and also drained the tanks to give them an opportunity to practice the timelines and procedures they will use for launch. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI
NASA ran into a similar problem in June during the rocket's wet dress rehearsal, which means a launch rehearsal with actual fueling of the rocket. Again, there was an issue with a bleed line that carries fuel from the core stage to the pad and engineers weren't able to fix it then, either. The overall test, however, was a success.
Earlier, NASA reported a small fuel leak but didn't give any indication that it would cause trouble with the launch. The fueling process of the SLS, which involves super-cold hydrogen and oxygen, was halted a few times due to the leak. Stormy weather had already delayed the fueling for a short time.
Engineers said they were also looking at what appeared to be a crack on the core stage. Some frost around the crack drew engineers' attention.
On Sunday, NASA said Artemis I was in a good position to take off Monday despite recording five "events" from at least one lightning strike at the launch site as weather forced work planned into Sunday night to be "pulled in."
The uncrewed Artemis I mission is the first for the Space Launch System, which is paired with the Orion capsule. The primary goal of the mission is to ensure the SLS can do its job and the Orion spacecraft can safely deliver astronauts back to Earth.
"Artemis I is that first step down this path when we talk about sustained exploration on the lunar surface. This is our exploration system. I hope that everyone takes some pride nationally for what we've been able to do and where we are today," NASA Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Jim Free said during a press briefing on Friday.
The launch pad is 4.2 miles from the assembly building. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI
It's been a very long road for NASA, scientists and the space-loving public to get back to this point since the last human mission to the moon 50 years ago.
When Apollo 17 landed on the moon in 1972, everyone already knew that it would be the last human flight to the lunar surface for a long time. For they knew that it had already been a very expensive endeavor and NASA had other plans for the future that did not involve a return to the moon.
As Neil Armstrong was famously the first human to walk on the lunar surface, astronaut Gene Cernan was the last on Dec. 14, 1972.
"As I take man's last step from the surface … for some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future, I'd like to just say what I believe history will record that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow," Cernan said before he climbed back into the lunar module for the return to Earth.
"And as we leave the moon ... we leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."
The space shuttle became NASA's top priority from its development in the mid-1970s until it was retired in 2011. Two disasters and the loss of 14 astronauts hastened the end of the space shuttle, which never fulfilled its goal of becoming an inexpensive reusable space vehicle.
A return to the moon wouldn't become a goal again at NASA until 2005 when the Constellation program was announced. Its main goals were finishing the International Space Station, returning to the moon no later than 2020 and sending a human mission to Mars. President Barack Obama canceled Constellation in 2010 when it was learned that the program would be too costly.
The formal law that canceled Constellation, however, directly led to the Space Launch System and ultimately the Artemis program.
NASA's Lunar Gateway Program aims to establish a space station orbiting the moon that will serve future lunar missions and is on schedule for launch by SpaceX in 2024. Artemis II, a crewed mission that will orbit the moon, is scheduled for sometime in 2024 and Artemis III, which will return humans to the lunar surface, sometime in 2025.
Artemis 1 sits on the launchpad during tests. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
Holly Ridings, deputy director of the Gateway Program, said that the 12 years leading up to the launch have all been a "positive trajectory."
"We created what we have today, Artemis I, SLS and Orion, out on the launchpad ready to go, and even beyond that, the entire Artemis enterprise. The process to me was one of resilience in a way that we always use," she told UPI.
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