Nasa to try launching Artemis 1 mission again on Saturday | Nasa
Nasa will make a second attempt at launching its Space Launch System moon rocket this Saturday, the agency has said, five days after technical issues foiled an initial attempt.
The US space agency made the decision on Monday to delay its first attempt to put astronauts on the moon in 50 years due to engine issues.
Engineers at at the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida, discovered problems with one of the rocket’s engines and were unable to fix it in time for a the scheduled launch window. Mike Sarafin, Nasa’s Artemis mission manager, said on Monday that poor weather also played a factor.
Crowds had flocked to Florida on Monday to watch the launch only to be disappointed. The mission has sparked enthusiasm as humanity attempts its first return to the moon since the 1970s.
The effort is expected to cost US taxpayers up $93bn, but Nasa officials have said Americans would find the cost to be justified.
“This is now the Artemis generation,” the Nasa administrator and former space shuttle astronaut Bill Nelson said recently. “We were in the Apollo generation. This is a new generation. This is a new type of astronaut.”
More details soon …