NASA reschedules Artemis I Mission to Moon after shocking delays and huge waste of money

NASA has attempted to launch the Artemis I Mission twice but both attempts were unsuccessful. The space agency was first scheduled to launch the mission on August 29 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. However, disaster struck and one of the four RS-25 engines of NASA’s new Space Launch System malfunctioned, causing the launch to be scrubbed. NASA made another attempt to launch the Orion spacecraft again on September 3 but it was scrubbed again. Now, the space agency has rescheduled the mission altogether.

The recent fiascos have caused a huge amount of backlash with many targeting NASA for the huge waste of public money on this project.

Now, it seems that NASA is adamant on finally fixing issues before it makes another launch attempt. NASA will replace the seals between the rocket and its fuel lines to prevent any hydrogen leak, like it happened last time. The space agency has chosen two dates in late September to make another launch attempt. NASA has chosen either September 23 or September 27 as the launch dates to prevent any clash with the DART test which is expected to take place on September 26.

NASA’s previous attempts to launch Artemis I mission

According to NASA, August 29’s launch was postponed due to a malfunction in the core stage of one of the four RS-25 engines of the Space Launch System (SLS). Before the launch, the four engines are bled with liquid nitrogen as well as hydrogen to prepare them for launch. However, Nasa engineers noticed that one of the RS-25 engines was not bleeding properly. Additionally, engineers also detected a “leak” in the inner tank of the upper stage. There was a visible build-up of ice and frost and a trail of vapour could be seen.

NASA’s Artemis 1 launch was scrubbed again on September 3 due to yet another issue. As soon as NASA engineers sent a command to fill the hydrogen tanks, the alert went up and a hydrogen leak in the tanks was spotted. Even after numerous attempts to repair the leak, the team were unsuccessful and the launch was scrubbed again.