Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

NASA sets new date for second try at moon rocket launch

Trevor Mogg
By

NASA has said it will make a second attempt at launching its next-generation moon rocket on Saturday, September 3.

The announcement follows a failed attempt to send the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket skyward on Monday after engineers discovered an issue with one of the engines shortly before liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Recommended Videos

NASA said it plans to launch the uncrewed Artemis I flight at 2:17 p.m. ET pm Saturday, September 3. The launch window will remain open until 4:17 p.m. ET in case the countdown needs to be paused at any point.

Related

“We’re now targeting Saturday, September 3, for the launch of the #Artemis I flight test around the moon,” the agency said in a tweet posted on Tuesday. “The two-hour launch window opens at 2:17 p.m. ET (18:17 UTC).”

We're now targeting Saturday, Sept. 3 for the launch of the #Artemis I flight test around the Moon. The two-hour launch window opens at 2:17 p.m. ET (18:17 UTC). pic.twitter.com/MxwdcKHGdd

— NASA (@NASA) August 30, 2022

There was much disappointment when NASA called off the launch on Monday, with huge crowds lined up along the Space Coast waiting to see the agency’s most powerful rocket to date blast to space, and many more watching online.

But the countdown clock was halted at the 40-minute mark when engineers spotted a problem with engine number three on the SLS rocket’s core stage.

Unable to resolve the issue in time, the team decided to stand down.

Later the same day, NASA chief Bill Nelson commented on the situation, saying: “There are certain guidelines, and I think it’s just illustrative that this is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work.”

He added: “You don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go.”

The Artemis I mission will mark the beginning of a new era of space travel that NASA hopes will eventually lead to the first humans reaching Mars. This first mission, however, is designed to test the new SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Once in space, the Orion capsule will fly around the moon, coming within 62 miles of the lunar surface, before returning to Earth in six weeks’ time.

Artemis II will fly the same path but with astronauts on board, while Artemis III, which could take place as early as 2025, aims to put the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Trio of Orion spacecraft prepped for NASA moon missions
Three NASA Orion spacecraft in production.

NASA has shared an image of three spacecraft that will play a central role in its next three Artemis missions to the moon.

Having already successfully tested the Orion spacecraft on a lunar flyby at the end of last year after being blasted into space by NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket, the American space agency is now overseeing the building of three more Orion capsules for upcoming Artemis missions.

Read more
Blue Origin wants to launch rockets from new site outside U.S.
blue origin nails another rocket mission ahead of space tourism flights new shepard

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company is looking to expand its spaceflight business beyond the U.S., the Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday.

Blue Origin was set up by Amazon founder Bezos in 2000. Following years of testing its suborbital New Shepard rocket, the company started using it in 2021 to send paying passengers on trips to the edge of space.

Read more
NASA performs critical tests for Artemis V moon rocket
NASA tests the SLS rocket's new RS-25 engines for the Artemis V mission.

NASA is performing hot fire tests of the new RS-25 engines that will power the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket toward the moon in the Artemis V mission, currently scheduled for 2029.

“NASA entered the stretch run of a key RS-25 certification engine test series with a successful hot fire [on] June 1, continuing to set the stage for future Artemis missions to the moon,” the agency said in a post on its website.

Read more