Artemis draws her bow again. After two consecutive launch attempts, NASA has set a new launch window for the Space Launch System’s Artemis 1 mission to the Moon. Including the cleanup launch efforts of the past two weeks, NASA has never conducted a successful test of the SLS rocket’s cryogenic fuel systems. But he hopes to change that record, starting next week. The agency has designed a “bleed start test” demonstration that will allow teams to confirm that the hydrogen leak has indeed been repaired. It will also test new propellant loading procedures designed to reduce thermal and pressure-related pressure in the system and evaluate “pre-compression procedures.” (Say that five times fast!) During the countdown, engineers “start” thermal conditioning on the SLS rocket’s four RS-25 engines by precooling them. This involves “bleeding” a drop of liquid hydrogen into the engines while simultaneously filling the core reservoir. Leaks in the hydrogen system, along with a temperature sensor that said Engine No. 3 was too hot, causing the agency to scrub the Aug. 29 launch attempt during the countdown. The agency has outlined a new date for the power-up demonstration: September 21. If all goes well, SLS will launch during a 70-minute window that opens on September 27 at 11:37 AM. EDT. However, for all intents and purposes, the company has a backup release date of October 2nd. Over the weekend, Artemis I teams completed repairs to the hydrogen leak area. NASA said in a blog post, “Engineers have reattached the ground and rocket plates to the quick disconnect for the liquid hydrogen fuel supply line, where two seals were replaced last week. This week, the teams will carry out tests in ambient conditions to ensure there is a tight bond between the two plates before testing again during the cryogenic tank demonstration.” Hydrogen remains nearly as difficult to deal with as Congress, so we’ll see if the agency can get it right in time.
“It’s in our DNA to explore”
On September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke to students at Rice University in Houston about America’s nascent space program. During his remarks, Kennedy gave an eloquent answer to the question: Why bother going to the moon at all? NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft. The rocket will launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky “We choose to go to the moon,” Kennedy said. “We choose to go to the moon this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are difficult, because this goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our actions and skills, because this the challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to put off and one we intend to win.” Kennedy spoke in an atmosphere of deep tension amid panic at Sputnik. Its bold idealism contrasted with the pale underbelly of Cold War realpolitik. At the time, the nation’s fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration was just getting its feet wet and needed money — fast. Sixty years later, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other NASA officials gathered at Rice University to commemorate Kennedy’s historic speech. Where Kennedy first stood up and asked America to give its blessing to “a giant rocket … to an untried mission to an unknown celestial body,” Nelson asked a weary and skeptical nation to keep the faith. Then, as now, NASA is about more than politics, or money, or space primacy. It’s remembering to look to the sky in the face of fear. “We’ll roll out when we’re ready,” Nelson said at the Houston event. “But mark my words, let’s go. When given the final go, Artemis I will roar to life and fly to the moon. And every observation we make and every lesson we learn on this maiden voyage of Artemis prepares us and the way for humans to venture even further.” “Ladies and gentlemen, Mars is calling. Why; Because it’s in our DNA to explore.” Read now:
