Whereas NASA’s lunar desires wait, one other crew eyes orbit

[ad_1] NASA’s first crewed lunar mission in additional than 50 years received’t be getting underway this month in any case.

It had been focusing on February 6 for the launch of the much-anticipated Artemis II mission that may take 4 astronauts on a flight across the moon, however after points surfaced throughout a crucial preflight check on Tuesday, NASA determined that it received’t launch the SLS rocket till March on the earliest.

Throughout the so-called “moist gown rehearsal” during which engineers gas the rocket and undergo all the launch process with out truly igniting the engines, a hydrogen leak was detected on the base of the SLS rocket.

The upcoming launch window runs from February 6 by way of 11, however NASA has determined it wants extra time to assessment the state of affairs, with a second rehearsal additionally possible. That’s meant pushing the launch date to March 6 on the earliest.

“With greater than three years between SLS launches, we absolutely anticipated encountering challenges,” NASA chief Jared Isaacman wrote in a put up on X on Tuesday. “That's exactly why we conduct a moist gown rehearsal. These checks are designed to floor points earlier than flight and arrange launch day with the best likelihood of success.”

The schedule replace implies that the Artemis II astronauts — NASA’s Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch, along with the Canadian Area Company’s Jeremy Hansen — may have a bit of additional time on terra firma earlier than they blast to house.

It additionally implies that one other set of astronauts ought to be heading to orbit forward of their lunar-bound colleagues. SpaceX’s Crew-12 — comprising NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, together with the European Area Company’s Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — might be heading to the Worldwide Area Station as early as February 11.

A minimum of, that had been the plan till Monday, when SpaceX mentioned it was grounding its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket — the identical car sort that will likely be carrying Crew-12 to orbit — after a problem occurred throughout a launch earlier that day when its higher stage did not carry out a deorbit burn as anticipated.

“Groups are reviewing information to find out root trigger and corrective actions earlier than returning to flight,” the corporate mentioned in a put up on X.

It’s uncommon for the Falcon 9 to expertise anomalies nowadays, so hopefully SpaceX can kind it out quickly, paving the way in which for Crew-12’s journey to orbit subsequent week as initially deliberate.