After identifying and fixing the engine problem, NASA will make a second attempt to launch Artemis 1 today

After the United States Space Agency (NASA) announced that it had identified and fixed an engine problem that had delayed the initial launch attempt five days earlier, NASA has decided to make a second attempt today to launch Artemis 1, its pioneering moon rocket. The problem caused the launch attempt to be delayed.

When a sensor on the Space Launch System (SLS) mega rocket indicated that one of its four engines was not cooling properly, mission managers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida called off Monday’s liftoff with 40 minutes left on the countdown clock. This decision was made because the launch was scheduled to take place.

After conducting an investigation, it was determined that the issue was caused by a malfunctioning sensor rather than a failure of the engine’s cooling system or the engine itself. The launch team stated that they would disregard the issue if it occurred again while they were refueling the rocket on Saturday at 7.17 p.m. Central European Time.

John Honeycutt, the manager of the Artemis program, stated in a press briefing that took place before to the launch of the spacecraft that they had “convinced ourselves without a shadow of doubt that we have good grade liquid hydrogen passing through the engines.”

According to him, the engines’ temperatures during liftoff have to be equal to or lower than the -250 degrees Celsius temperature of the liquid hydrogen fuel; otherwise, they risk being destroyed and having to be turned off during the eight-minute rise to low Earth orbit.

The Artemis 1 test mission, which will consist of a next-generation six-person Orion capsule atop the SLS, the most powerful rocket ever to leave Earth, has been given a launch window of two hours by NASA. This will be the first manned flight to the moon that NASA has attempted in the past fifty years.

This mission will not have any crew members. The crash in the Pacific Ocean on October 11 ended a successful 38-day flight that was as far as 40,000 miles (64,000 km) away from the moon and back. This paved the path for astronauts to be aboard Artemis II in 2024. the long-awaited next human landing, which will take place in 2025 and is called Artemis III.

Only 12 men, all of whom were American, have ever set foot on the moon. The last time this occurred was in December of 1972 on the Apollo 17 mission. NASA has pledged that the Artemis program, which is named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology and will feature lunar prints created by the first woman and the first person of color to travel to the moon, will fulfill this promise.