NASA is ready for the second attempt to launch the Artemis moon

NASA’s next-generation Moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) with the Orion crew capsule on top, stands atop Launch Complex 39B as rain clouds move into the area ahead of its rescheduled test launch of the Artemis 1 mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. United September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Sept. 3 (Reuters) – Ground teams at the Kennedy Space Center prepared Saturday for a second attempt to launch NASA’s next-generation lunar rocket on its maiden flight, hoping to address engineering problems that thwarted the first flight. Countdown five days ago.

The 32-story Long Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion capsule were scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT), launching NASA’s ambitious Artemis 50 program. Years after the last Apollo lunar mission. (fee: https://tmsnrt.rs/3PPRsbN)

The previous launch demo ended on Monday with technical issues that halted the countdown and postponed the unmanned flight.

Tests indicate that technicians have since repaired a leaking fuel line that helped call off Monday’s launch, Jeremy Parsons, deputy program director at the Space Center, told reporters Friday.

Mike Sarafin, the Artemis mission manager, told reporters Thursday night that two other major issues about the rocket itself — a faulty engine temperature sensor and some cracks in the insulation foam — were resolved to NASA’s satisfaction.

Weather is always an additional factor beyond NASA’s control. The latest forecast called for a 70% chance of favorable conditions during Saturday’s two-hour launch window, according to the US Space Force at Cape Canaveral.

If the countdown clock stops again, NASA may reschedule another launch attempt for Monday or Tuesday.

Dubbed Artemis I, the mission marks the first flight of both the SLS rocket and Orion capsule, built under NASA contracts with Boeing Co. (ban) And Lockheed Martin (LMT.N)Straight.

It also marks a significant change in direction for NASA’s post-Apollo human spaceflight program, after decades of focusing on low Earth orbit with the space shuttle and the International Space Station.

Named after the goddess who was the twin sister of Apollo in ancient Greek mythology, Artemis aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2025.

Twelve astronauts walked on the Moon during the six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, the only spaceflights that did not put humans on the Moon. But Apollo, born into the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, was less dependent on science than Artemis.

The new moon program has enlisted commercial partners such as SpaceX and space agencies in Europe, Canada and Japan to establish a long-term lunar base of operations as a staging ground for more ambitious human missions to Mars.

Getting the SLS-Orion spacecraft out of Earth is an essential first step. Its maiden flight aims to put the 5.75-million-pound craft in its stride on a rigorous test flight that pushes the boundaries of its design and hopefully proves the spacecraft is fit for flight for astronauts.

If the mission is successful, Artemis II’s manned flight around the moon and back could come as early as 2024, to be followed in a few more years with the program’s first lunar landing, one of them a woman, with Artemis III.

Rated as the world’s most powerful complex rocket, the SLS represents the largest new vertical launch system the US space agency has built since Saturn V in the Apollo era.

Barring last-minute difficulties, Saturday’s countdown should come to an end with the rocket’s four main R-25 engines and twin boosters generating 8.8 million pounds of thrust, about 15% more thrust than the Saturn 5, sending the spacecraft into the sky.

About 90 minutes after launch, the rocket’s upper stage will propel Orion out of Earth’s orbit on its course for a 37-day journey that will take it to within 60 miles of the lunar surface before sailing 40,000 miles (64374 km) behind the moon and back to Earth. The capsule is expected to fall into the Pacific Ocean on October 11.

Although there are no humans on board, Orion will carry a simulator crew of three – one male and two mannequins – equipped with sensors to measure radiation levels and other stresses that astronauts might encounter in real life.

The mission’s top objective is to test the durability of Orion’s heat shield during re-entry as it slams into Earth’s atmosphere at 24,500 miles (39,429 km) per hour, or 32 times the speed of sound, upon its return from lunar orbit—much faster than the most common reentries of capsules returning from Earth’s orbit.

The heat shield is designed to withstand re-entry friction expected to raise temperatures outside the capsule to approximately 5,000°F (2760°C).

More than a decade in development With years of delays and budget overruns, the SLS-Orion spacecraft has so far cost NASA at least $37 billion, including design, construction, testing and ground facilities. NASA’s Office of Inspector General has forecast that total Artemis costs will reach $93 billion by 2025.

NASA defends the program as a boon to space exploration that has created tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in commerce.

(Reporting by Joey Rowlett in Cape Canaveral, Florida and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

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