The planned launch of a new American spacecraft to fly to the moon and back is canceled on Monday. It is not possible to get one of the four engines on board up to temperature. The countdown clock had stopped at 40 minutes, and more than an hour after the start of that unscheduled break, flight control decided to call off the launch.
The next opportunity to leave is next Friday. It is not yet known whether the launch can go ahead. That depends, among other things, on the remedial measures needed to tackle the cause of the problems.
The mission is called Artemis I. There are no people on board, the flight is intended to test all systems. It’s a dress rehearsal for manned flights to the moon in a few years.
Space Launch System
A new launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), has been built for the journeys to the moon. That’s the most powerful rocket ever. It is 100 meters high and weighs about 2.6 million kilos including fuel. At the very top is packed the craft that has to go to the moon: the Orion. The trip there and back takes about six weeks.
The United States has been trying to return to the moon for decades. Between 1969 and 1972, a total of 12 American astronauts walked there. The first people should arrive there again in 2025 at the earliest. The American space agency NASA wants women and people of color to come along.
The Americans are getting help from Europe and Canada in developing the Orion. On subsequent missions, the astronauts sit in the front part of the Orion, which was developed and built in America. The back is from Europe. This part provides electricity, among other things. It is generated with four large solar panels from Airbus Nederland from Leiden.