NASA Postpones Artemis I Launch Again
For the second time in less than a week, NASA has delayed the launching of its Artemis I mission. After an engine failure earlier in the week, Saturday's launch was waved off after a fuel leak was discovered on the mission's SLS—or Space Launch System. The mission had previously been scheduled to launch around 2:17 Saturday afternoon but was eventually scrubbed by mission officials three hours prior.
The leak was discovered as engineers began fueling the SLS with liquid hydrogen. After multiple attempts to fix the thank's leak, officials were forced to postpone the mission at least a few more days.
"We do not launch until we think it's right," NASA administrator Bill Nelson told members of the media after the delay. "These teams have labored over that and that is the conclusion they came to. I look at this as part of our space program, in which safety is the top of the list."
The space agency hopes to now launch Artemis I on Monday, September 5th or Tuesday, September 6th. If it doesn't launch between those two dates, the mission will likely have to roll the mission back to the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building due to equipment that needs tested every 20 days. Should it leave it places atop Pad 39B, it's likely Artemis I wouldn't launch until late October.
The mission is made up of the SLS and the Orion space capsule, which will be without a crew for this mission. Once out of the Earth's atmosphere, the Orion capsule and SLS are set to separate, sending the former on a 42-day test flight around the moon. Artemis II will then feature a crew on a similar flight path. Artemis III, currently scheduled to launch in 2025, will then return America to the lunar surfaced for the first time since 1972.