NASA scrapped a second attempt to get its new 30-story rocket off the ground and send its uncrewed test capsule to the moon after detecting a fuel leak.
With millions of people around the globe and hundreds of thousands on nearby beaches waiting for the historic launch of the massive Space Launch System (SLS), a leak near the base of the rocket was found.
NASA said that the launch director nixed the Artemis I launch. Multiple attempts to fix the leak did not work.
400,000 people gathered near the launch site to see the most powerful vehicle that NASA has ever launched.
The launch attempt on Monday was halted after a fuel leak and a sensor showed that one of the rocket's engines was too hot.
The launch director gave the go-ahead for the filling of the rocket's tanks.
3 million liters of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen were supposed to be pumped into the spaceship, but the process soon hit problems.
There was no new date for the next attempt.
There are backups on Monday or Tuesday. Due to the moon's position, the next launch window won't be until September 19.
The purpose of the Artemis 1 mission is to make sure that the Orion capsule is safe to use in the future.
Mannequins with sensors stand in for astronauts on the mission and record their performance.
It will take several days for the craft to reach the moon. A record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans will be set when the capsule fires its engines to reach a distant retrograde DRO of 40,000 miles beyond the Moon.
One of the main objectives of the trip is to test the heat shield of the capsule, which is 16 feet in diameter.
The heat shield will only be able to tolerate speeds of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The first moon missions were named after the twin sister of Apollo.
The Artemis missions will be the first to send a person of color and a woman to the moon.
Each of the first four missions of the Artemis program will cost at least $4.1 billion, according to an audit.
Artemis 2 will take astronauts to the moon without a landing.
At the earliest, the crew of Artemis 3 will land on the moon, with later missions envisaging a lunar space station and a sustainable presence on the lunar surface.
Bill Nelson said that a crewed trip to the red planet could be done by the end of the 20th century.
Agence France- Presse.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
