NASA will temporarily halt its efforts to finish a launch pad test of the mammoth Artemis moon rocket at Kennedy Space Center, paving the way for the first all-civilian flight to the International Space Station on Friday.
Following scrubs in the tanking and countdown simulations at KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B on both Sunday and Monday, further attempts this week would have jeopardized the Axiom Space launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon from neighboring Launch Pad 39-A.
However, NASA officials stated that a speedy turnaround to straighten out the flaws from the incomplete test was not in the cards.
“It looks like we’ll take approximately the same amount of time as Axiom will take to fly, so we’ll fall behind them,” said Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin. “We need to complete sharpening the pencil on our open work, but we don’t expect it to take any longer than after the Axiom launch.”
The fully integrated Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule experienced separate pressurization and valve issues, both of which were caused by the mobile launcher on which the rocket is mounted, which interrupted tanking attempts both days. The purpose is to fill and drain 730,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the rocket’s core and upper stages.
“It looks like we’ll take just about as much time as we’re going to need for Axiom to fly, so we will fall in behind them, We’ve got to finish sharpening the pencil on our open work but we don’t anticipate it will be too much longer than after the Axiom launch.”
said Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin.
“We haven’t encountered any fundamental design defects or concerns,” Sarafin said. “These are best described as annoyances or technical problems.”
The test is the final major hurdle before mission managers can set a launch date for Artemis I, an uncrewed flight that will send the Orion capsule on a four-to six-week mission to orbit the moon and pave the way for future crewed missions, including the return of humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
Previous probable launch dates have been announced as June 6–16 and June 29–July 12.
“We’re not ready to give up on (June launch prospects),” Sarafin explained. “As far as where we stand, we’ll reassess after damp dress.”
According to Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the crew fulfilled one of two major objectives and three of five secondary objectives, so when they retest, they won’t have to start from zero.
“This is a test,” she explained, “and the aim of the test is to thoroughly understand our systems and the day-of-launch setup.” “This was the first test at the pad in this configuration with cryogenics. So it was a significant day for us.
With the Artemis delay, SpaceX can now conduct its planned static fire of the Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday, which will be used for the Axiom Space mission dubbed AX-1, which aims to send three customers who paid $55 million each, along with a former astronaut, on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station. On Tuesday, the rocket was brought out to the launch site.
That flight is scheduled to take off at 11:17 a.m. on Friday. The weather squadron for Space Launch Delta 45 predicts decent weather, with a 70% possibility of favorable conditions. If the postponement is moved to Saturday, the weather will be considerably better, with only a 20% probability of rain.
The spacecraft, which is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Saturday morning, will stay on board for eight days before returning with its crew to Earth.
Their departure will pave the way for another Crew Dragon voyage to the ISS with NASA’s Crew-4 mission, which will swap out astronauts on board for a six-month stay. That flight, which is scheduled to take off no earlier than April 20, will also launch from KSC and will have to compete with any ongoing tanking tests for Artemis I.
“We’re keeping in regular communication and collaborating on a daily basis with our commercial crew, International Space Station, and commercial LEO partners who are launching from other pads, and we’re aware that their primary launch efforts are coming up here soon,” Sarafin added.
