The next available launch opportunity for the SLS opens on September 2 at 09:48 Pacific / 12:48 Eastern / 17:48 UK.
Nasa space shuttle launch live video update#
Update 14:40: NASA has scrubbed the August 29 launch of its SLS Moon rocket (and therefore postponed the Artemis-1 mission) after several issues were discovered during fuelling. A second weather-related stand-down without any further tanking technical difficulties would trigger a roughly 48 hour turnaround, leading to a third launch opportunity on Monday, September 5th.
The SLS team is set to reconvene on Thursday, September 1 to conduct another launch preparedness review.Īs it stands, there is a roughly 60% chance of a weather violation during the two hour period. Engineers are also considering the possibility that the engine bleed could be cooling the engines better than the data indicates, and that it is the sensors that are at fault. NASA is planning to change the fuel loading procedure and to begin the engine chilldown about 30 - 45 minutes earlier in the hope that this will fix the problem. However, whilst engines one, two and four got close to the correct prelaunch temperature, none were actually able to hit it, and engine three in particular registered as significantly hotter than the others. Ordinarily, this is achieved by overpressurizing the tank and forcing supercooled fuel into the workings of the engine. Engineers were unable to bring the RS-25 engines down to the required minus 420 degrees Fahrenheit needed to make them ready for launch. The August 29 launch was called off largely due to a conditioning issue with the four shuttle-era engines that power the core stage of the rocket. According to NASA, engineers will be undertaking work prior to the second attempt to fix a minor hydrogen leak between the rocket body and a pad umbilical. The two-hour launch window will open at 11:17am Pacific / 2:17pm Eastern / 7:17pm UK. Update : NASA has announced a new launch date of Saturday, September 3 for the Artemis-1 mission, after the SLS moon rocket’s maiden flight was delayed. If NASA does choose to roll the rocket back to the VAB, we likely wouldn’t see another launch attempt until mid-October. “This is part of our space program, be ready for the scrubs." “We’ll go when its ready, we don’t go until then, and especially now on a test flight, because we’re gonna stress this and test it, and test that heat shield, and make sure its right before we put four humans up on the top of it” In a postlaunch interview NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was pragmatic about the scrub: Mission management teams are set to meet later today to determine whether a launch in the coming days is still viable, or whether it would be better to roll the leviathan rocket back to NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for maintenance. This early scrub - which was called hours before the opening of the 2:17pm ET launch window - will be doubly frustrating to NASA.Īlongside having to fix the new hydrogen leak, engineers will now be uncertain as to whether the issues that led to the scrub of the first attempted Artemis-1 launch would have been fixed by the new fueling procedure that was put in place for the second attempt.Īccording to NASA, the launch vehicle is safe, and engineers are now carefully draining the rocket of its fuel. Sadly, each time the liquid hydrogen was pumped with any pressure, the leak returned, and after the third attempt mission operators were forced to recommend a no go on today’s launch.Īt 11:17am ET Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson made the official call to scrub the second launch attempt. NASA engineers shut off the flow of fuel multiple times in an attempt to troubleshoot the problem, and reseat the seal in order to stop the leak. However, at 7:15am ET, the team detected a leak around the quick disconnect seal on the fuel loading line that transfers liquid hydrogen into the rocket. Mission engineers were able to load the liquid oxygen into the rocket without issue. In order to launch, the huge tanks housed within the orange body of the SLS need to be carefully loaded with 730,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
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