'To Mars and beyond,' NASA's Artemis 1 test flight postponed
(CBSDFW.COM) - NASA's plans to once again make history were put on hold ahead of the Artemis I launch, an unpiloted test flight of the Orion crew capsule and Space Launch System.
The Aug. 29 launch would have been the first test of the integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the moon.
The 42-day test flight was originally set for launch Monday at 8:33 a.m. EDT. But complications during fueling of the SLS moon rocket forced the agency to postpone it.
At 8:20 a.m., NASA said its teams were in a hold in the countdown at T-40 minutes while "engineers evaluate why the bleed test to condition the engines was not successful. Engineers are looking at options to gather as much data as possible. The Artemis I rocket and spacecraft are in a stable, safe condition."
The SLS, with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, is not the most powerful rocket ever built. But it is the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA.
"It will prove all of our propulsion avionics systems to ensure the vehicle is capable of safely sending astronauts to those lunar expeditions as well as returning them safely to earth," said NASA engineer Chandler Sherman.
The most powerful rocket ever built was the Soviet N1 moon rocket with 10 million pounds of thrust. The N1 flew four times and in every case exploded before the end of first stage flight. It never reached space.
In addition to landing the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface near the moon's south pole, under Artemis, NASA wants to establish sustainable lunar exploration.
"The efforts we are undertaking today are going to enable those deep space exploration missions," explained Sherman. "Our ability to push further than we have ever gone before, and really what excites me the most is the mystery of what that means. There are things we don't fully understand that are out there."
The goal of the Artemis mission isn't just a return to the moon, but to figure out future ways humans can live there and on Mars.
"We are expecting not only to go but to establish lunar bases as well as a lunar gateway to enable deep space exploration to Mars and beyond," said Sherman. "A lot of great information we're going to gather and all that information will be fed into the Artemis 2 mission, which will be crewed."
The next opportunity for launch will be Friday, Sept. 2, at 12:48 p.m. EDT, if the problems are resolved by then.
