NASA says the next attempt at a debut space flight of its “mega moon rocket” could happen as early as Friday, but engineers and other experts must first review a raft of problems that saw the Artemis mission’s planned launch to be scrapped prior to liftoff.
NASA endured several issues at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Monday morning. First, it was the unco-operative weather, with thunderstorms delaying the propellant load for the rocket.
Once the go-ahead was given to fill the fuel tanks — which altogether hold 2,778,492 litres of propellant, or the equivalent of 41 swimming pools of water — another issue arose: the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen were filling at unacceptable rates relative to one another. The process was repeatedly stopped and started due to a hydrogen leak, before teams were able to reduce the seepage.
The tanks were being filled with super-cooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellants, and launch teams began a “conditioning” process to chill the engines sufficiently for liftoff, NASA said.
But one of the four main engines failed to cool down as expected, and while trying to resolve that issue, the team noticed another leak, involving a vent valve higher up on the rocket, prompting launch team managers to pause the countdown and then call off the launch at 8:35 a.m. ET.
Engineers struggled to pinpoint the source of the cooling problem well after the launch postponement was announced.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said the fault did not appear to be with the engine itself but with the plumbing leading to it.
WATCH | NASA official explains decision to call off launch:
‘We don’t launch until it’s right,’ says NASA administrator
7 hours ago
Duration 0:57
Bill Nelson highlights the complexities of a space shuttle, and how they’re able to stress test it to a greater degree because the Artemis operates without a crew — but NASA said it would still take precautions and delay launch if everything was not right.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team also had to deal with sluggish communication between the Orion capsule and launch control. The problem required what turned out to be a simple fix.
Even if there had been no technical snags, thunderstorms ultimately would have prevented a liftoff, NASA said. Dark clouds and rain gathered over the launch site as soon as the countdown was halted, and thunder echoed across the coast.
Launch team to consider next steps
The launch team will reconvene on Tuesday afternoon to review data on the problems, and develop options for the next launch attempt, Sarafin said.
“[There were] a number of challenges. We were ready for some of them, and the technical challenges we encountered on the engine bleed and the vent valve are just some things we’re going to have to look at tomorrow after we get a little smarter and get rested.”
Lightning strikes the launch pad 39B protection system as NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, with the Orion spacecraft aboard, sits on the pad Saturday. (Bill Ingalls/NASA)
Asked by reporters whether a Friday launch was possible, he said that day was “definitely in play,” although it was possible the launch could be delayed until mid-September or later.
The problems seen Monday were reminiscent of NASA’s space shuttle era, when hydrogen fuel leaks disrupted countdowns and delayed a string of launches back in 1990.
“This is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work, and you don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson.
WATCH | Unmanned moon mission on hold:
NASA scrubs Artemis I launch, delaying return to moon
11 hours ago
Duration 3:47
NASA has postponed the launch of Artemis I, the first launch in the agency’s mission to return humans to the moon. Fuel leaks forced NASA to scrub the launch of the uncrewed rocket.
The start of the Artemis mission, Artemis I, won’t involve any crew on board — except for three mannequins and a plush Snoopy — but it is a crucial step in returning humans to space.
Artemis II is set to launch in 2024 or 2025, with four astronauts who will orbit the moon, including a Canadian.
The last time anyone was on the moon was in December 1972.
What to expect of the launch
In the first 10 minutes after liftoff, a lot happens. The solid rocket boosters separate, the launch abort system jettisons and the core stage — the big orange tank — separates and falls back to Earth. At 8:51 ET Orion’s solar arrays, used to power the spacecraft, deploy, which will take roughly 12 minutes.
Then Orion needs to get into position to head on course to the moon. To do this, there are several manoeuvres, which continue throughout the day, which NASA will be watching very closely.
If all goes well, Orion will be on an outbound trip to the moon that will continue five days after launch. When it gets there, it has to move into a very particular orbit which will take a further three days.
Finally, 35 days after Orion left Earth, the spacecraft will begin its trip home, where it is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on October 10.
After Orion returns home, NASA will evaluate all the systems and tests they conducted along the way, preparing for Artemis II.
Canadian Space Agency astronauts Jeremy Hansen and Joshua Kutryk — one of four Canadian astronauts who may be on that Artemis II mission — were at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of the launch and said that the Artemis I mission is just the first step.
“In the end we will go back to the moon, but it is completely different this time. Not only are we going to a different location, there’s going to be new science, new technology, but we also have our eyes on Mars,” Hansen said.
“This is a proving ground to take humanity into deep space. This is just the first steps of something much, much grander.”
Canadian Space Agency astronauts Jeremy Hansen and Josh Kutryk were on hand at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as NASA prepared for its first moonshot in 50 years. (Turgut Yeter/CBC)
Kutryk was keen to point out that this isn’t just a U.S. effort.
“This isn’t just NASA … this is a world effort. This is NASA leading the world along to go out and accomplish these really hard challenges to try to set up — not just a U.S. — but a human presence on the moon and then eventually on Mars,” Kutryk said.
“So it’s very different in that respect and it’s very important in that respect that we’re bringing the world along.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
