• NASA to Make Second Attempt to Launch Artemis I Lunar Mission On Saturday

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    NASA to Make Second Attempt to Launch Artemis I Lunar Mission On Saturday

    The statement came a day after the company postponed the launch of its powerful new Moon rocket...


    Digital Desk: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will try once more to launch the unmanned Artemis I lunar mission on Saturday. The statement came a day after the company postponed the launch of its powerful new Moon rocket.


    The launch was initially scheduled for Monday. However, it was called off after a failed attempt to get one of the rocket's four RS-25 engines to the required temperature range. The RS-25 engines are attached to the core stage for Artemis I, and Engine No. 3 developed the technical glitch. Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager at NASA, announced the new launch date.


    It will be the first flight of the Artemis program. Notably, the US intends to land people on the Moon with this mission for the first time since the Apollo mission in 1972. Notably, the Artemis 1 mission is a test launch without a crew of the enormous Space Launch System mega-rocket. It is the first of several scheduled launches that will bring people back to the Moon. 


    On top of the rocket is a stack of Orion crew capsules. The rocket will take off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center's launchpad 39B. The crew capsule will be launched by the rocket into lunar orbit. The spacecraft will spend about 42 days in orbit. NASA will begin sending astronauts on Orion missions to the Moon in 2024.


    Notably, Shaun the Sheep from the popular stop-motion television series will be travelling on the unmanned Artemis I mission. According to reports, the US space agency has selected 13 locations around the lunar south pole for the crew capsule's landing.