The third mission - no earlier than 2025 - would have astronauts actually landing on the moon.Īstronauts last walked on the moon in 1972 during NASA’s Apollo program. The second SLS flight, planned for 2024, would send a crew around the moon and back. This test flight is crucial before astronauts climb aboard.īlackwell-Thompson said it was too early to say what NASA’s next step might be. The testing delays have pushed the actual launch - with an empty Orion capsule flying around the moon and back - to the end of August at the earliest. (Maxar Technologies via AP)Įarlier, nearly 1 million gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen were loaded into the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket known as the Space Launch System, or SLS. This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and and the Orion space capsule on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, June 18, 2022. NASA spokesman Derrol Nail said it wasn’t immediately known why the countdown stopped. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said they pushed ahead to see “how the team performed, how the hardware performed, and they both performed very well.”Įngineers wanted to get all the way down to the 9-second mark - just short of engine firing - to validate all the systems and procedures. But NASA managers decided to do the countdown test anyway. The previous attempts in April were thwarted by a fuel leak, as well as stuck valves and other technical issues.Īnother leak - this time in an external fuel line - almost curtailed Monday’s test at Kennedy Space Center. This was NASA’s fourth crack at the all-important dress rehearsal, the last major milestone before the moon rocket’s long-awaited launch debut. NASA fueled its huge moon rocket for the first time Monday and went ahead with a critical countdown test despite a fuel line leak.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |