The launch of NASA’s new megarocket to the Moon, already aborted twice due to technical problems, will take place no earlier than September 27, the US space agency announced on Monday.
This long-awaited test flight of the Artemis 1 mission, with no crew on board, is to test the SLS (for Space Launch System) rocket in real conditions and the Orion capsule at its summit, where the astronauts will take place in the future.
To get the green light, NASA teams must successfully complete a fuel tank fill test and obtain a special waiver to avoid retesting batteries in an emergency rocket destruction system.
October 2nd?
If the agency does not receive this waiver, the rocket will have to return to the assembly building, which would push the schedule back several weeks.
The September 27 firing window will open at 11:37 a.m. local time for 70 minutes, with a scheduled end-of-mission on November 5. A possible second window is scheduled for October 2, NASA said in a blog post.
Last week, NASA said it hoped to be able to launch SLS on September 23 or 27. The launch of the rocket had been canceled on Monday, August 29, and then again on Saturday, September 3, due to technical problems, a setback that delays the effective launch of the US program of return to the Moon, Artemis.
The orange and white SLS rocket, which has never flown before, has been in development for more than a decade.
Source: BFM TV
