Awful! Big setback for NASA on Artemis 1 Moon mission

NASA was all set to launch its Artemis-1 moon mission in its third attempt on September 27. But here again, ahead of the launch, NASA has been forced to scrap this opportunity and remove the rocket from the launch pad, and rolled it back into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) due to the weather issues following the arrival of Tropical Storm Ian in the region. Earlier, there was a leak of liquid hydrogen propellant at an interface between the SLS core stage and the rocket's mobile launch tower on September 3 which postponed the launch to another date. However, scientists have fixed the issue.

“NASA is foregoing a launch opportunity Tuesday, Sept. 27, and preparing for rollback, while continuing to watch the weather forecast associated with Tropical Storm Ian. During a meeting Saturday morning, teams decided to stand down on preparing for the Tuesday launch date to allow them to configure systems for rolling back the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building,” NASA said in a statement. NASA continues to rely on the most up-to-date information provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Space Force, and the National Hurricane Center.

The next expected launch opportunity is on October 2, whereas, so far, NASA has had two launch attempts for the Moon rocket.

What is NASA Artemis 1 mission

NASA explained about the mission that “the primary goals for NASA's Artemis 1 are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis 2.”

With the birth of this first exploration mission, NASA is aiming to take revolutionary steps of human exploration into deep space and to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars. After the successful completion of this first flight, NASA will aim at the second flight that will take the crew on a different course and it will test critical systems of Orion with humans aboard.