Science & Technology
NASA has a new launch date for Artemis I rocket
NASA’s Artemis I rocket is now scheduled to be launched on September 27th, with a “potential” backup date planned for October 2nd if things don’t go as planned.
The Artemis I mission will use NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket to catapult an uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon as part of the agency’s push to bring humans back to the Moon by 2025.
While NASA’s first launch attempt was cut short due to an engine issue, the second attempt on September 3rd ended prematurely after the Artemis I team detected a hydrogen leak that engineers couldn’t fix.
According to NASA, the Artemis I team has already finished working on the hydrogen leak.
If everything works out, NASA will attempt to launch the rocket on September 27th with a 70-minute launch window opening at 11:37AM ET.
The launch date is sandwiched in between two other major space events, with NASA scheduled to send a spacecraft crashing into an asteroid as part of its Double Asteroid Redirect (DART) mission on September 26th, and NASA and SpaceX crews headed to the International Space Station on October 3rd.