NASA Artemis I launch delayed until at least late September

NASA said it needs to replace hydrogen-fuelling equipment on its new moon rocket after scrubbing the launch for the second time in a week, a decision that means the spaceship won’t fly until at least late September.

“I look at this as a part of our space program, of which safety is the top of the list,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at an afternoon press conference where officials explained that engineers tried multiple times to stop a hydrogen leak. Some hardware will be replaced, and one of the options being considered to do that involves moving the rocket back to the massive Vehicle Assembly Building — which would delay the mission by several weeks.

The mission, called Artemis I, is the initial step in NASA’s ambitious plan to send the first woman and the first person of colour to the surface of the moon as early as 2025. The goal is to prove the new Space Launch System can send an uncrewed capsule called Orion into lunar orbit, before NASA feels comfortable putting astronauts on board.

The scrubbed launches are adding more delays to an already perennially behind-schedule program. The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the giant rocket that propels Artemis I and it has been in development for the last decade. It was originally supposed to launch as early as 2017. But testing mishaps and developmental setbacks pushed back the flight. Now with the rocket complete, flight controllers are still learning how to operate the vehicle, and that means even more waiting is likely. The rocket’s development cost has soared from an original $7 billion to about $23 billion, according to an estimate by the Planetary Society.

Scrub Decision

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director for the Artemis I mission, called off Saturday’s flight at about 11:17am, three hours before the scheduled launch window was to begin. A leak in equipment transferring hydrogen fuel prevented NASA engineers from fully loading the rocket. A similar leak was one of several issues that led to the postponement of the earlier attempt on Aug. 29.

NASA tried to troubleshoot Saturday’s leak, which occurred in a line that feeds propellant into the rocket’s tank and was likely caused by excess pressure in the system. But multiple attempts to fix the issue failed. Ultimately NASA determined the equipment needs replacement on the launch pad or inside the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Engineers also will likely need to do work on the SLS’s flight termination system — the equipment  used to destroy the rocket if it deviates off course — which takes time and needs to be done at the VAB. That means that even if NASA can replace the hardware at the pad, the rocket will most likely have to return to the hangar for that work before it can fly again.

It’s unclear when NASA will try to go again. NASA has predetermined launch periods for when the SLS can fly, based on the Earth and moon’s position and other parameters. The next launch period opens on Sept. 19 and runs through Oct 4. Rolling back to the VAB would likely take several weeks, making it hard to meet this next period.

Additionally, NASA and SpaceX, the company run by billionaire Elon Musk, are set to fly another crew of astronauts to the International Space Station in early October, which could conflict with another launch attempt.

If NASA can’t make the later September launch period, another one opens on Oct. 17 and runs through Oct. 31. Nelson, the former US Senator from Florida who flew on the space shuttle in 1986 and now runs the space agency, indicated that this would be the period that NASA would try for. “Although the window opens in early [October], I suspect it’ll be more like the middle,” he said during a live NASA broadcast after the scrub.

Delayed Development

Saturday’s launch attempt was more than a decade in the making. First conceived in 2010, the SLS was originally projected to launch as early as 2017. But its development has been long delayed, with its budget ballooning the longer the rocket has stayed on the ground. 

Over time audits had highlighted issues at the prime contractors — Boeing Co. for the SLS and Lockheed Martin Corp. for the Orion capsule — as well as testing and construction mishaps.

Artemis I, when it does launch, will send an uncrewed Orion capsule into orbit around the moon. The capsule will carry a combination of mannequins and other science and technology payloads, tasked with inserting itself into a distant lunar orbit before returning to Earth and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after a several-weeks long mission.

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