The stars seemed to be gradually aligning for the liftoff of NASA’s new rocket to the moon on Saturday, thanks to encouraging weather forecasts and the resolution of technical issues that caused a postponement of the launch earlier this week.
Posted yesterday at 10:21 p.m.
Liftoff is scheduled for 2:17 p.m. local time from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but is still possible over the next two hours if needed.
The chance of favorable weather during this shooting window is 60%.
“The weather is looking good” and should not be “blocking”, assured Thursday during a press conference Melody Lovin, in charge of analyzing the weather forecast.
NASA has also been working since Monday to resolve the technical problems that caused the cancellation of the takeoff at the last moment.
The first concerned the cooling of one of the four main engines, an operation necessary before their ignition. By letting some of the cryogenic fuel escape on the engines, they gradually reach the desired low temperature. But the data collected indicated a problem with one of them.
Engineers “conducted independent analyzes that confirmed it was a faulty sensor,” rocket program manager John Honeycutt told a news conference on Thursday.
In the future, this sensor will simply be ignored.
Second problem solved: a leak that had been observed on Monday when filling the fuel tanks.
“We were able to find what we believe is the source of the leak, and fix it,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.
The Artemis 1 mission is a test flight without an astronaut on board. This will be the first take-off of the SLS rocket, which has been in development for more than a decade to become the most powerful in the world.
“There is no guarantee that we will take off on Saturday, but we will try,” said Mike Sarafin, in charge of the mission, modestly.
If it is actually launched that day, the Orion capsule atop the rocket will spend almost 38 days in space. It will be put into orbit around the Moon after approaching its surface only about 100 km away.
It is in this ship that will take place in the future the astronauts – including the first woman and the first person of color to walk on the Moon, in 2025 at the earliest.
The Artemis program, named after Apollo’s twin sister, is NASA’s new flagship program for many years to come. On the Moon, the space agency wants to test the technologies needed to send the first humans to Mars.