NASA’s Artemis rocket launch delayed: What to know

The launch of NASA’s Artemis I has been delayed until Friday, or later in September, after problems with the lunar rocket engine.

The agency said engineers are evaluating data collected during Monday’s first attempt, when crews were unable to bring the engines into the proper temperature range needed to fire them up for liftoff.

The mission management team is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to develop a strategy for the future.

“The space launch system’s four RS-25 engines must be thermally conditioned before supercooled propellant begins to flow through them for liftoff. Launch controllers condition them by increasing the pressure in the d liquid hydrogen from the center stage to route them, or “bleed” as it is often called, a portion of the approximately minus 423 [Fahrenheit] liquid hydrogen in engines. Managers suspect that the problem, seen in Engine 3, is unlikely to be the result of a problem with the engine itself,” the agency said in a blog post.

UFOS HAVE LANDED IN CONGRESS, WHERE LEGISLATION TARGETING THEM WILL BE CONSIDERED

An American flag waves in the breeze as NASA’s New Moon rocket lands on launch pad 39-B Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

During the countdown, NASA said launch controllers worked through additional problems, including thunderstorms in the area that delayed propellant loading operations, a leak in the quick disconnect of the 8-inch line used to fill and drain liquid hydrogen from the center stage and a hydrogen leak. of a valve used to vent propellant from the center stage intertank.

A weekend storm caused no damage to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the unmanned Orion capsule or ground equipment, but five lightning strikes were confirmed.

In addition, launch manager Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and his team also had to deal with slow communication between Orion and launch control, although it turned out there was a simple fix.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson arrives for a news conference to address the status of NASA’s lunar rocket for the Artemis 1 mission to orbit the Moon at the Kennedy Space Center, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(AP Photo/John Raoux)

“This is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all these things have to work, and you don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to work,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

NASA’S MOON ROCKET ON TRACK FOR LAUNCH Despite Lightning Strikes

Launch delays, he noted, are part of the business of test flights.

NASA plans to hold a teleconference with the media at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday with updates on the data analysis and discussion.

NASA’s new moon rocket is seen on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

The 332-foot-tall rocket, the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA, and Orion are currently sitting on Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Friday’s two-hour release window opens at 12:48 pm ET.

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The six-week long mission is the first of NASA’s Artemis project.

The second Artemis mission would send astronauts to fly around the Moon as early as 2024, and a two-person lunar landing could follow in 2025.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.