The second launch attempt for the NASA Artemis I rocket was scrubbed a hydrogen leak was discovered.
Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson finally halted the countdown after three to four hours of effort.The team then started to work to de-tank the rocket.Launch controllers were unable to troubleshoot a hydrogen leak – which was detected at 7:15 a.m. EDT – that reoccurred twice in a cavity between the ground and flight side plates of a quick disconnect.Engineers had attempted to reseat the seal in the quick disconnect cavity where the leak occurred by applying pressure to it with helium.
A new launch date will be announced shortly, according to reports.
NASA will likely set the new, third attempt, at launch for either Monday or Tuesday.It’s yet another setback to mark NASA’s return to the moon, more than 50 years after the Apollo program.The ambitious Artemis program, a NASA partnership with SpaceX and the space agencies of Europe, Japan, and Canada, eventually aims to establish a lunar base as a stepping stone to interplanetary space missions.
The Artemis 1 rocket is the largest and most powerful ever built by NASA. This test flight is part of the Artemis program, which to return astronauts to the moon by 2025. This mission is an uncrewed test of the Space Launch System and its Orion spacecraft to make sure both vehicles are safe for astronauts.
The mission also is designed with “diversity-equity-inclusion” in mind.
The Artemis 1 mission is playing an important role in educating us all about science and math, as well as sending an important message about diversity and inclusion.“Artemis 1 leads to Artemis 2, which leads to Artemis 3, when we hope to have humans on the surface of the moon,” said NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman.Artemis 2 will see astronauts lifting off from Kennedy Space Center for the first time since Apollo – the crew will leave Earth’s orbit and travel beyond the far side of the moon.Artemis 3 is when NASA aims to land on the moon’s surface.Artemis 3 also aims to send the first woman and the first person of color to the surface of the moon.
Perhaps NASA should take the two failures as a sign that the focus should be on practical engineering rather than political science and social justice.
This mission already seems to have all the wrong stuff.
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