- The 98-meter SLS rocket remains on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo: EFE
NASA hopes to have solved the problem of the leak of liquid hydrogen in the SLS rocket with the hope of being able to try once more mission launch Artemis I on September 23 or, as a second option, on the 27th of the same month, the US space agency reported Thursday.
During a teleconference, Jim Free, associate administrator in NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, noted that the September 23 launch window would begin at 6:47 a.m. local time (10:47 a.m. GMT) and would extend by two hours. , while the window for the 27th would be at 11:37 local time (15:37 GMT) and would last for 70 minutes, in both cases local time.
But those dates are conditioned, among others, to the tests that will be carried out tentatively on the 17th of this month, when NASA engineers tank the first and second stages of the SLS rocket, in addition to having solved the problem. of the sealing that caused the leak of liquid hydrogen in the takeoff attempt last Saturday.
That day, NASA had to suspend for the second time the start of the historic Artemis I mission, which will pave the way for a return of astronauts to the Moon. This was due to a liquid hydrogen leak during the rocket tanking process that forced the countdown to stop regarding 3 hours before the launch window opened.
At the moment, the 98-meter SLS rocket and with the Orion ship at the top continue this Thursday on launch pad 39B of the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida (USA), where the corresponding tests and analyzes have been carried out. under plastic covers to protect the workers and the rocket from bad weather.
What is the goal of Artemis I?
The objective of the first Artemis mission is to test the capabilities of the SLS and the Orion spacecraft, before a manned voyage originally scheduled for 2024, which will be followed by a third in which for the first time since 1972 American astronauts, including a woman and a person of color will step on the lunar surface.
The Artemis I, which will take off without a crew, has a fixed duration of 37 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes, a period in which, removing round trips, the Orion spacecraft will be orbiting the Moon. EFE
