NASA’s beleaguered Artemis-1 mission to the moon is now facing a likely six-week delay after being scrubbed twice due to technical problems.
While there are possible launch dates for the unmanned probe in the coming weeks, a window that opens on September 19 will likely be too short notice to properly prepare the spacecraft.
And in another, Artemis 1 is being pushed off the launch pad for a long-planned SpaceX launch. With it, the company founded by Elon Musk will blow up its Crew 5 mission to the International Space Station, which is scheduled for launch on October 3.
When NASA decided to abandon its final launch attempt on Saturday and roll the rocket back to the vehicle assembly building, it was because engineers couldn’t get over a hydrogen leak, a dangerous situation that hasn’t been resolved to this day’s final day start window.
The previous failed attempt was due to engineers not being able to cool one of the rocket’s engines to a safe temperature in time for liftoff. But there’s more at stake in the long-delayed launch of the massive, 30-story rocket slated to carry American boots to the lunar surface in 2025 than just fixing the mechanical problems.
“We’re leaving when it’s ready,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said after the final scrubbed launch. ‘Until then, and especially now, we’re not going on a test flight because we’re going to stress and test this and test this heat shield and make sure it’s right before we put four people on top of it.’
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When NASA decided to abandon its final launch attempt on Saturday and roll the rocket back to the vehicle assembly building, it was because engineers couldn’t get over a hydrogen leak, a dangerous situation that hasn’t been resolved to this day’s final day start window
“We’re leaving when it’s ready,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said after the final scrubbed launch. ‘Until then, and especially now, we’re not going on a test flight because we’re going to stress and test this and test this heat shield and make sure it’s right before we put four people on top of it’
NASA has to adhere to a number of different priorities and factors when launching anything from Kennedy Space Center — including whether there is enough time in a given window to achieve a mission’s goals and whether it will compete with others scheduled launches.
Officials have said that if the missile had to be rolled back to the vehicle assembly building, the launch date would likely have to be pushed back to mid or late October.
Additionally, NASA’s launch of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission — which will include US astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan’s mission specialist Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina — via a Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch rocket to International Space Station – scheduled for Oct 3 from Launchpad 39A; A NASA spokesman confirmed to DailyMail.com that Artemis 1 would not be launched on the same day.
According to the list of launch windows released by NASA, the next opportunity for Artemis 1 is September 19, covering the following nine days plus three days in early October that do not overlap with the SpaceX Crew-5 mission. However, based on statements from the space agency and other experts, it appears NASA won’t be able to try again until the next window — opening on October 17 and closing on October 31.
NASA’s launch of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission, which will carry US astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan’s mission specialist Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina via a Crew Dragon spacecraft (above) and a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station – is scheduled for October 3rd
The launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission will send US astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan’s mission specialist Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the International Space Station
Due to a few days of no availability, there are only 11 slots in this late October window.
Also, the entire Artemis program, which will end up costing NASA up to $93 billion, is under pressure both externally and internally to stick to a budget that is being pushed ahead despite rising costs. The two aborted attempts each cost the space agency $1.2 million in labor and fuel.
“Given our estimate of $4.1 billion per SLS/Orion system launch for at least the first four Artemis missions, NASA needs to accelerate efforts to find ways to make its Artemis-related programs more affordable,” Martin said during his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics earlier this year.
“Otherwise, we believe reliance on such an expensive single-use heavy-lift missile system will impair, if not derail, NASA’s ability to sustain its long-term human exploration goals of the Moon and Mars.”
The Artemis 1 mission will eventually send the Orion capsule some 40,000 miles across the moon and back on the SLS rocket – it is intended to test the feasibility of the next phases and will have three test dummies on board.
Ten shoebox-sized secondary payloads, known as CubeSats, will be hitchhiked into space on Artemis I while several other probes fly during flight tests in the Orion spacecraft.
Each of the payloads will conduct scientific and technological experiments in space, expanding our understanding of lunar science, technological developments and space radiation.
Artemis 2, scheduled for 2024, will make the same journey but have a crew of four, and Artemis 3, scheduled sometime in 2025, will land the first woman and person of color anywhere near the lunar south pole.
Nelson said the current delays will not affect the Artemis 2 and 3 schedule.
