Manned moon mission by NASA: Artemis-2 will no longer launch in March
Even the second dress rehearsal for fueling the moon rocket of the Artemis-2 mission didn't go smoothly. Therefore, it has to go back to the assembly building.
The SLS on the launch pad
(Image: NASA)
After a problem during the second dress rehearsal for the first launch of a manned moon rocket in more than 50 years, it will no longer lift off in March. Depending on how quickly it is rolled back into the huge Vehicle Assembly Building and the cause of the issue is found there, a launch could still be attempted in April. NASA announced this and scheduled a press conference for later in the week for further details. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman admitted that this is disappointing. On the microblogging service X, however, he recalled that the Apollo program was also marked by numerous setbacks. Nevertheless, the US space agency achieved “what was thought to be impossible” at the time.
Further schedule unclear
The second dress rehearsal for fueling the rocket for the Artemis-2 mission ended on Thursday. It was not possible to properly fuel the upper stage with helium. According to Isaacman, the issue had already occurred with Artemis-1. There are various places where the cause could lie, and it must now be searched for in the assembly building. Therefore, the rocket is to be rolled back there as quickly as possible, and the crew is allowed to leave quarantine. However, the weather must be right for rolling back; the wind was too strong over the weekend. What happens next is still unclear. The rocket could be launched on several days in early April; the currently last launch window opens on April 30.
Videos by heise
With Artemis-2, NASA wants to fly humans to the moon again, but it will only be orbited. The launch was initially planned for February 6, but this could not be met. The crew consists of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch from NASA, as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen. On their ten-day flight, they will first orbit the Earth and then accelerate towards the Earth's moon. Four days are allocated for the flight there. If everything works out, humans will reach the surface of the moon on the follow-up mission Artemis-3 – this is currently planned for 2028. In the first mission of the ambitious Artemis program, an unmanned capsule flew around the moon in the fall of 2022.
(mho)
