After the failed start of the unmanned moon mission “Artemis”, the US space agency Nasa now sees Saturday as the next possible start date. After the problems on Monday, the team decided to change the fuel loading process, explained mission manager Mike Sarafin. The start was unsuccessful, among other things, because of an engine leak, the temperature of one of the four engines being too high and weather problems. Now the engines are to be cooled down earlier in the starting process.
The start on Saturday afternoon (local time) at the Cape Canaveral spaceport could also be canceled due to the weather, it said. At 2:17 p.m. (8:17 p.m. German time) a two-hour window for a possible start begins. Originally, Nasa had given Friday and Monday as starting alternatives.
The “Artemis I” unmanned test flight, which will last around 40 days, is intended to herald the return to manned flights to the moon. NASA wants to send people there again with its “Artemis II” mission at the earliest in 2025, including a woman and a non-white person for the first time. Problems had already arisen with earlier tests and the original schedule had been delayed. The “Artemis” flights should also serve in the long term to prepare for manned missions to Mars.
