NASA Moon Rocket Faces More Flight Delays As Repairs Mount

The flight debut of NASA’s mega moon rocket faces additional delays following a string of failed fueling tests.

Tuesday, April 19th 2022, 5:00 am

By: Associated Press


-

The flight debut of NASA’s mega moon rocket faces additional delays following a string of failed fueling tests.

Officials said Monday it will be challenging to meet a launch window in early to mid-June. The next opportunity to send an empty capsule to the moon on a test flight would be at the end of June or July.

The 30-story Space Launch System rocket has been on the pad at Kennedy Space Center for the past month. It will return to the hangar next week for valve and fuel leak repairs. The problems cropped up earlier this month, preventing NASA from filling the rocket’s fuel tanks for a critical dress rehearsal.

The rocket will likely spend weeks in the hangar before heading back to the pad for a testing redo, said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

Managers are considering various options for getting back on track.

“It’s just a matter of what’s the right time, what’s the right way to do that,” said Tom Whitmeyer, a NASA deputy associate administrator.

NASA wants this test flight under its belt before putting astronauts on board for the second launch, a lunar flyaround targeted for 2024. The third mission would attempt to land astronauts on the moon around 2025, more than a half-century after NASA’s Apollo moonshots,

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News 9 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

April 19th, 2022

June 11th, 2024

March 11th, 2024

December 1st, 2023

Top Headlines

December 4th, 2024

December 4th, 2024

December 4th, 2024

December 4th, 2024