The launch of the rocket as part of an unmanned flight to the moon will be carried out on September 3. This was announced on Tuesday, August 30, by Artemis Program Manager Michael Sarafin.
“The launch will take place on September 3, the window will open at 14:17 US East Coast time (21:17 Moscow time – Ed.),” he said during a press conference.
It was previously assumed that the launch of the mission will take place on September 2. As Sarafin assured on August 29, there were no obstacles to the launch. Plans had to be changed due to unfavorable weather forecast.
Also, SLS program manager John Honeycutt noted that after the discovery of a hydrogen leak on Monday, engineers checked the health of the engines and did not reveal any damage.
Despite the fact that the specialists quickly eliminated the leak, this circumstance caused the cancellation of the launch of the mission. NASA Director Bill Nelson said he does not consider such hitches as something serious and threatening the lunar program.
On August 20, it became known that NASA had selected potential areas for landing astronauts on the moon. It was clarified that all 13 places are located near the South Pole of the Moon.
As part of the Artemis I mission, the spacecraft will orbit the Moon and return to Earth. His mission will last 42 days.
NASA’s lunar program called Artemis provides for three flights to the Earth’s satellite, the third stage is planned to land people. The purpose of the mission is to land people on the moon using the Orion spacecraft. NASA intends to complete the program by 2024, but does not rule out possible delays or postponements.
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