(ORDO NEWS) — On Monday, August 29, the Orion ship was supposed to go to the moon. It was supposed to be sent into space using the largest operating rocket in the world, the Space Launch System, but the launch was postponed due to problems.
Why was the rocket launch postponed?
According to Channel 24 , an hour before the scheduled launch time – 15:00 Kyiv time – specialists reported problems during refueling. Subsequently, these difficulties were eliminated, but later it turned out that this was not all news.
Engineers also discovered an air conditioning problem with one of the RS-25 engines (engine 3) at the bottom of the main stage.
Start controllers condition the engines by pressurizing the main-stage tanks to supply some of the cryogenic fuel to the engines and bring them into the proper temperature range for starting.
Engine 3 was not properly conditioned during the digestion process, so the engineers set about troubleshooting.
The teams also found what looked like a crack in the material of the thermal protection system on one of the main grade flanges.
The agency announced that it is targeting Saturday (September 3) for the Artemis 1 launch. If all goes according to plan, the SLS rocket will launch from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) pad 39B in Florida during the two-hour window that opens at 2:17 p.m.
Artemis 1 is the first mission of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish an active human presence on and around the Moon by the end of the 2020s.
It’s also the first flight of NASA’s huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a long journey to and from lunar orbit.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.