NASA delays Moon mission launch after hydrogen leaks during test
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NASA is pushing the proposed launch date for Artemis II lunar mission back to March after discovering a hydrogen leak.
PHOTO: AFP
HOUSTON – American space agency NASA is pushing the proposed launch date for its Artemis II lunar mission
The agency is delaying the lift-off to allow teams to review data and conduct a second test, which it calls a wet dress rehearsal.
The crew – NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen – will be released from quarantine, which they entered in Houston on Jan 21.
The mission aims to return astronauts to the vicinity of the Moon for the first time since 1972.
During this week’s test, engineers faced several challenges, including a spike in the liquid hydrogen leak, an issue with a valve that is associated with the module’s hatch pressurisation and some dropouts in the audio channels, NASA said in a statement on Feb 3.
The goal of the test is to ensure Artemis II’s Boeing Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket and its Lockheed Martin Corp Orion spacecraft can conduct a 10-day journey to fly by the Moon and return home.
NASA also wants to test Orion’s life-support systems before Artemis III conducts a crewed lunar landing by 2028. BLOOMBERG
