The launch of NASA’s new mega-rocket to the moon was canceled on Monday due to a technical problem with one of the craft’s main engines, NASA said in its live video. An incident which de facto postpones this launch for at least a few days, which should mark the start of the great American space program back on the Moon, Artemis.
The next possible launch date is Friday, September 2, then Monday, September 5. But the problem will first have to be assessed by NASA teams before determining a new date.
Fuel leak
Liftoff of Artemis 1 was originally scheduled for 8:33 a.m. (2:33 p.m. French time) from launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. But he was “widely anticipated” that this schedule is not respected, said the commentator of the NASA live video. The shooting window extends over two hours and therefore leaves room for manoeuvre. A new schedule has not yet been determined.
The tanks of the rocket – the most powerful in the world – were gradually filled with more than 3 million liters of ultracold liquid hydrogen and oxygen. But the filling started about an hour late because of too high a risk of lightning in the middle of the night.
Then a leak caused a pause during the filling of the main stage with hydrogen, before a solution was found and the flow resumed. Around 7 am (local time), a new problem was examined. One of the four RS-25 engines, under the main stage of the rocket, could not reach the desired temperature – a condition necessary to be able to ignite it. The countdown was stopped while the teams worked to establish an action plan.
“Dreams and Hopes”
Between 100,000 and 200,000 people were expected to attend the show, including the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Fifty years after the last Apollo flight, the Artemis 1 mission should mark the launch of the American program to return to the Moon, which should then allow humanity to reach Mars, aboard the same ship.
The Orion capsule is to be launched unmanned into orbit around the Moon, to verify that the vehicle is safe for future astronauts – including the first woman and first person of color to walk on the lunar surface.
“This mission carries the dreams and hopes of many people,” Nasa boss Bill Nelson said this weekend before adding: “We are now the Artemis generation. » Sign of the times, the first female launch director at NASA, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, was to give the final “go”. Women represent 30% of the workforce in the launch room – against only one for Apollo 11.