Countdown begins for NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission and maiden flight of SLS megarocket

[Elderberry]

CBS News by William Harwood 8/27/2022

Countdown begins for NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission and maiden flight of SLS megarocket

Countdown clocks began ticking Saturday for the maiden launch of NASA new Space Launch System rocket Monday on a long-awaited mission to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule around the moon and back.

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA's first female launch director, called her team to their stations in Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center and began the carefully-scripted 46-hour, 10-minute countdown at 10:23 a.m. EDT.

"At this time, we are not working any significant issues," she told reporters in a pre-flight news conference. "So I'm happy to report that and everything is proceeding on schedule."

Shortly after the briefing, lightning struck two of the three 600-foot-tall protective towers around the SLS rocket at launch pad 39B. The strike prompted a review of data to make sure no sensitive electrical systems were affected, but initial checks indicated the strikes were "low magnitude."

If all goes well, engineers working by remote control plan to start pumping 750,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel into the giant SLS rocket's core stage at 12:18 a.m. EDT Monday, setting the stage for blastoff at 8:33 a.m., the opening of a two-hour window. Forecasters are predicting a 70 percent chance of good weather.

The unpiloted 42-day test flight of the $4.1 billion SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule is a major milestone in NASA's push to return astronauts to the surface of the moon for long-term exploration and to test equipment and procedures needed for eventual multi-year flights to Mars.

More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artemis-launch-moon-sls-rocket-mission-maiden-flight/

[Elderberry]

Artemis I Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast)
115,992 waiting
Scheduled for Aug 29, 2022


NASA
10.3M subscribers
Watch live as our mega Moon rocket launches an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a six-week mission around the Moon and back to Earth. During #Artemis I, Orion will lift off aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and travel 280,000 miles (450,000 km) from Earth and 40,000 miles (64,000 km) beyond the far side of the Moon, carrying science and technology payloads to expand our understanding of lunar science, technology developments, and deep space radiation.
 
Liftoff is from Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The two-hour launch window opens at 8:33 a.m. EDT (12:33 UTC) Monday, Aug. 29.

Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars. We are going.

More: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLD0Lp0JBg

[Elderberry]

Leaks and possible crack threaten to delay NASA moon launch

AP By MARCIA DUNN

— Fuel leaks and a possible crack discovered during final liftoff preparations threatened to delay the launch of NASA’s mighty new moon rocket Monday morning on its shakedown flight with three test dummies aboard.

As precious minutes ticked away, NASA repeatedly stopped and started the fueling of the Space Launch System rocket with nearly 1 millions gallons of super-cold hydrogen and oxygen because of a leak. The fueling already was running nearly an hour late because of thunderstorms offs Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

The leak appeared in the same place that saw seepage during a dress rehearsal back in the spring.

Then a second apparent leak in a valve turned up, officials said.

Later in the morning, a crack or some other defect was spotted on the core stage — the big orange fuel tank with four main engines on it — with frost appearing around the suspect area, NASA officials said. Engineers began studying the buildup.

More: https://apnews.com/article/astronomy-space-launches-exploration-science-63e9e863f294968af8869950909a212c

[Elderberry]

Launch scrubbed for Today.

[rustynail]

Launch scrubbed for Today.

The USA can not get it up.

[Elderberry]

The USA can not get it up.

They haven't been able to get it up for a long long time. Way back in 2014 I was working on parts of the test plan for this flight.

[Kamaji]

Somebody put Musk in charge, please - if he'll take it.

[Elderberry]

Somebody put Musk in charge, please - if he'll take it.

First cancel the Orion and SLS contracts. Then replace them with Starship, putting Musk in charge.

[Kamaji]

First cancel the Orion and SLS contracts. Then replace them with Starship, putting Musk in charge.