NASA spokesman Derrol Nail said it was unable to plug a leak that appeared several hours before scheduled liftoff on Saturday. Several attempts to solve this problem during the refueling of “Artemis I” with liquid hydrogen had failed.
Three hours before the start of a possible time window for the start, it was then canceled. At that time, the hydrogen tanks were eleven percent full, it said.
“Safety First”
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst wrote on Twitter that such problems with test launches of complex systems are not surprising. “After the start attempt is before the start attempt,” added the German.
“It’s the right decision. Safety comes first,” wrote the director of the European Space Agency ESA, Josef Aschbacher, also on Twitter.
A first attempt to launch “Artemis I” was also aborted last Monday for several reasons. A tank leak had also occurred, and one engine had not been able to be cooled down to the required temperature. In addition to Saturday, NASA also named Monday, September 5th, as other possible launch dates. After the unsuccessful start on Saturday, this new date was initially not confirmed. NASA announced a press conference on Saturday afternoon (local time) on the reasons for the demolition and how to proceed.
Return to manned lunar flights
The unmanned test flight of the “Artemis I” mission, which will last around 40 days, is intended to herald the return to manned flights to the moon. During the mission, NASA wants to launch an “Orion” space capsule with the help of the heavy-duty rocket “Space Launch System” from the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome, then orbit the moon and later land again in the Pacific.
The purpose of the “Artemis I” test flight is to be able to send people to Earth’s satellite again in a few years on the “Artemis II” mission. At the earliest, people should land on the moon again in 2025, for the first time also a woman and a non-white person. Problems had already arisen with earlier tests and the original schedule had been delayed.
Source: Nachrichten
