After technical problems: New Nasa moon rocket Artemis should start on Saturday

Created: 2022-09-02 11:43 am

By: Jennifer Lanzinger

NASA's Artemis rocket.

© Joel Kowsky / Nasa / dpa

After a first attempt had to be canceled at the last second, Nasa now wants to send its Artemis rocket to the moon on Saturday.

All information in the live ticker.

Cape Canaveral/USA - After the failed first attempt, the US space agency Nasa wants to make a new attempt to launch its new moon rocket on Saturday, September 3, 2022.

A time window of almost two hours is open for the mission, as confirmed by the head of the unmanned Artemis 1 mission, Mike Sarafin.

The weather is now being watched with excitement.

A first attempt last Monday had to be canceled at the last minute due to technical problems, thousands of onlookers had gathered on site.

Specifically, the time window for the Artemis mission should open on Saturday at 2:17 p.m. local time, and Nasa fans from Germany can look forward to impressive pictures from 8:17 p.m.

On Monday, NASA had to call off the first test flight of the SLS rocket shortly before launch due to technical problems.

Thousands of onlookers had gathered on site to watch the launch of NASA's new giant rocket.

Among them was US Vice President Kamala Harris at the scene.

After technical problems: New Nasa moon rocket Artemis should start on Saturday

First, the threat of lightning and a leak caused delays in refueling the rocket.

Temperature problems in one of the four main engines then led to the start being aborted for a short time.

The rocket engines, which are fueled with ice-cold liquid water and oxygen, have to be cooled down considerably before they can be launched.

On Monday, however, one engine had not reached the required temperature.

The Nasa technicians are now assuming that the temperature was probably correct after all and that the problem is related to a defective sensor.

The behavior of the sensor does not match the "physics of the situation," said SLS program manager John Honeycutt.

The Nasa technicians now want to collect data with other instruments during the next launch attempt on Saturday to ensure that the engine is properly cooled.

In addition, the cooling of the engines should begin earlier in the starting process.

Until then, the weather report will be followed with excitement, which predicts a 60 percent risk of unfavorable weather conditions such as rain or thunderstorms for Saturday.

The responsible meterologist Mark Burger was nevertheless "optimistic".

He sees a "pretty good chance" of being able to start on Saturday.

Nasa wants to send rockets to the moon again - in the future also astronauts on board

NASA has set itself an ambitious goal: 50 years after the last moon landing, it wants to send another rocket to the moon.

The task of the 42-day Artemis 1 mission is to test the most powerful launch vehicle to date and the Orion capsule at the top under real conditions.

The follow-up mission Artemis 2 is to bring astronauts into a lunar orbit, with Artemis 3 a moon landing should succeed at the earliest in 2025.

The long-term goal is a manned mission to Mars.