Launch of first Artemis mission not soon in the offing | Science

Saturday there was a leak in the supply of liquid hydrogen from the ground installations to the first stage. Three attempts to do something about it failed and eventually the launch director blew off the take-off.
According to mission director Mike Sarafin, the leak was large. The cause is not yet known.

The most powerful launch vehicle in the world could theoretically leave on Monday or Wednesday (Belgian time). But that option “is not on the table”, it sounded at a press conference. There is not enough time to complete the repair by Wednesday at the latest.

By the way, NASA has yet to decide whether the repair will take place on the launch pad, followed by a test mini-refuel, or in the huge assembly building. Any option implies a delay of several weeks.

The next launch window opens on September 19 and runs until October 4. But NASA wants to send a new crew to the International Space Station on October 3 with a Crew Dragon from SpaceX and wants to avoid a launch conflict.

So it looks like the subsequent launch window is the option. This is open from October 17 to 31.
“We’ll go when we’re ready,” said NASA head Bill Nelson, who has himself taken a space shuttle trip. “We’re not going until that time, especially now, on a test flight.”

The space launch system is to launch the unmanned Orion capsule equipped with a European service module to the moon for a test flight in which the heat shield in particular will receive particular attention.
The ultimate goal of the Artemis program is to allow another human to set foot on our natural satellite by 2025 at the earliest and for the first time since 1972.

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