Cosmic Log
NASA rolled the giant rocket that’s slated to launch four astronauts on a round-the-moon trip back to its garage today to troubleshoot a problem with its helium pressurization system.
The Space Launch System rocket, topped by an Orion crew capsule, returned to the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at about 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), NASA said. It took more than 10 hours for NASA’s crawler-transporter to make the 4-mile trip from Launch Complex 39B.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says the giant rocket set to send four astronauts around the moon for the history-making Artemis 2 mission must be rolled back from its launch pad to troubleshoot a technical problem.
The 10-day mission, previously scheduled for as soon as March, is now postponed until April at the earliest. “I understand people are disappointed by this development,” Isaacman said in a posting to X. “That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.”
The technical issue cropped up just days after a successful launch-pad rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Data from the Space Launch System rocket’s upper stage registered an interruption in the flow of helium, which is used to pressurize the propellant tanks and purge the engines. “Last evening, the team was unable to get helium flow through the vehicle,” Isaacman wrote today. “This occurred during a routine operation to repressurize the system.”
Isaacman said the helium pressurization system worked correctly during this week’s wet dress rehearsal. For what it’s worth, a problem with a helium valve cropped up during preparations for the uncrewed Artemis 1 round-the-moon mission in 2022, leading NASA managers to take corrective actions.
The current problem could be due to a failure at any of several points in the helium system. “Regardless of the potential fault, accessing and remediating any of these issues can only be performed in the VAB,” said Isaacman, referring to the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where the SLS and its Orion crew capsule were stacked for launch.
NASA counted down to T-minus 29 seconds during a smooth rehearsal for a historic launch that could send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than half a century.
The run-through at Launch Complex 39B, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was known as a wet dress rehearsal because it involved filling up the propellant tanks on NASA’s Space Launch System, a 322-foot-tall rocket that made its debut with 2022’s uncrewed Artemis 1 mission.
The only major component that was missing at the launch pad was the crew. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, the commander for the Artemis 2 mission, said in a posting to X that he was watching the proceedings from Launch Control.
Once NASA reviews the results of the two-day rehearsal, mission managers will decide whether to give the final go-ahead for the Artemis 2 crew’s 10-day trip around the moon and back.
Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said the space agency is targeting March 6 for liftoff. “Every night I look at the moon, and I see it, and I get real excited because I can really feel she’s calling us,” she told reporters today. “And we’re ready.”
NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket crept toward its Florida launch pad today at a top speed of about 1 mph, marking the first step in a journey that will eventually send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The 4-mile trek to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center began at 7 a.m. ET (4 a.m. PT) and lasted until evening. Because the rocket with its mobile launcher stands more than 300 feet tall and weighs millions of pounds, the trip required the use of a crawler-transporter — the same vehicle used for the Apollo and space shuttle programs, now upgraded for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
Liftoff for the Artemis 2 mission could come as early as March, but there’s lots to be done in the weeks ahead. After today’s rollout, the mission team will conduct a thorough checkout of the Space Launch System and its Orion crew spacecraft. NASA also aims to conduct a “wet dress rehearsal,” during which the launch team will fuel the rocket and count down to roughly T-minus 30 seconds. (Update: The first such rehearsal took place on Feb. 2 but had to be called off at about T-minus 5 minutes due to a liquid hydrogen leak.)
“We have, I think, zero intention of communicating an actual launch date until we get through wet dress,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters.
Artemis 2 is slated to send three NASA astronauts and one Canadian astronaut on a 10-day journey tracing a figure-8 route around the moon. The trip will take them as far as 4,800 miles beyond the lunar far side — farther out than any human has gone before.
As it heads for the moon, NASA’s Orion space capsule is sending back snapshots of Earth that evoke the “blue marble” pictures taken by Apollo astronauts five decades earlier.
This time around, the photographer is basically a robot, built into the camera system for the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission. The round-the-moon odyssey got off to a spectacular start early today with the first launch of NASA’s Space Launch System, and over the next 25 days it’s due to blaze a trail for future crewed trips to the lunar surface.
Hours after liftoff, a camera mounted on one of Orion’s four solar arrays pivoted around to capture a view of the spacecraft’s European-built service module in the foreground — with our half-shadowed planet set against the black background of space.
“Orion looking back at Earth as it travels toward the moon, 57,000 miles away from the place we call home,” NASA’s Sandra Jones intoned as the imagery came down.
NASA succeeded spectacularly in the third attempt to launch its Space Launch System rocket on an uncrewed round-the-moon mission that’s meant to blaze a trail for future Artemis lunar landings.
Artemis 1’s liftoff from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida came at 1:47 a.m. ET Nov. 16 (10:47 p.m. PT Nov. 15).
The 322-foot-tall, 5.5 million-pound SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built for NASA, surpassing the power of the Apollo era’s Saturn V rocket. The SLS evoked the legacy of Saturn V as it rose on a bright pillar of flame and disappeared into the night sky.
“You guys have worked hard as a team for this moment. This is your moment,” launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told her teammates in the control room after liftoff. “You have earned your place in history. You are part of a first. It doesn’t come along very often — once in a career, maybe. But we are part of something very special: the first launch of Artemis. The first step in returning our country to the moon, and on to Mars.”
NASA’s biggest rocket is on its Florida launch pad once more, awaiting liftoff on a milestone test mission around the moon.
The 322-foot-tall, 3.5-million-pound Space Launch System rocket rolled out overnight from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, reaching Launch Complex 39B at around 8:30 a.m. ET (5:30 a.m. PT) today after a crawl that lasted nearly nine hours.
Launch teams will continue configuring the SLS rocket and its Orion capsule for the start of the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, now targeted for no earlier than 1:04 a.m. ET on Nov. 16 (10:04 p.m. PT Nov. 13). That time frame is dependent on being able to ride out the effects of Tropical Storm Nicole and getting everything in place after the storm.
NASA had planned to begin the weeks-long test mission in August — but a series of technical glitches, followed by the threat from Hurricane Ian, forced mission planners to bring the rocket back into the Vehicle Assembly Building. During the weeks that followed, engineers worked their way through a list of maintenance tasks that had been put off.
With Hurricane Ian bearing down on the Florida coast, NASA has decided to move its multibillion-dollar Space Launch System moon rocket to safety.
For days, NASA and weather forecasters had been watching the storm take shape in the Caribbean Sea, and they made advance preparations for a rollback from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Over the weekend, mission managers decided not to proceed with a third attempt on Sept. 27 to launch the 322-foot-tall, 5.7 million-pound rocket on NASA’s Artemis 1 round-the-moon mission. And today they decided to go ahead with the rollback.
NASA says it achieved all its objectives during today’s launch-pad rehearsal for fueling up its giant Space Launch System rocket for an uncrewed round-the-moon mission known as Artemis 1 — but will have to review the data, check the weather and get final approvals before going ahead with plans for a Sept. 27 liftoff.
The test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was meant to verify that hydrogen fuel leaks encountered during the past month’s launch attempts were fixed. A hydrogen leak did crop up today during the process of filling the SLS rocket’s tanks with super-cooled propellants. “Engineers were able to troubleshoot the issue and proceed with the planned activities,” NASA said afterward.
NASA called off today’s attempt to launch its Space Launch System rocket due to a hydrogen leak encountered during the process of fueling up the core stage.
The next opportunity for liftoff could come on Sept. 5 or 6, but NASA hasn’t yet decided the timing for the third launch attempt.
NASA’s uncrewed test mission, known as Artemis 1, is meant to blaze a trail for sending astronauts to the moon.
“We’ll go when it’s ready,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “We don’t go until then, and especially now, on a test flight, because we’re going to stress this and test it … and make sure it’s right before we put four humans up on the top of it. So, this is part of the space business.”
Today’s scrub at Kennedy Space Center in Florida came five days after an initial postponement, which was attributed to concerns about the procedure for cooling down the SLS’s rocket engines prior to launch.