NASA aims to make a second attempt to launch its giant next-generation moon rocket on Saturday, 3rd September, five days after a pair of technical issues foiled an initial try at getting the spacecraft off the ground for the first time, agency officials said on Tuesday.
Watch #Artemis I launch to the Moon! The broadcast will begin Saturday, Sept. 3, at 12:15pm ET (16:15 UTC) on our Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Daily Motion and https://t.co/ieGQx2G190.
— NASA (@NASA) August 31, 2022
More on how to watch the launch, ask questions and participate: https://t.co/PARh9Hvnk4 pic.twitter.com/zyc42xSaXj
All this depends on the weather with experts suggesting that there will only be a 40 percent chance of favourable weather conditions.
At a media briefing a day after Monday's first countdown ended with the flight scrubbed, NASA officials said Monday's experience was useful in trouble-shooting some problems and that additional difficulties could be worked through in the midst of a second launch try.
For now, NASA officials said, plans call for keeping the 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion astronaut capsule on its launch pad to avoid having to roll the massive spacecraft back into its assembly building for a more extensive round of tests and repairs.
If all goes as hoped, the SLS will blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday afternoon, during a two-hour launch window that opens at 2:17 p.m., sending the Orion on an uncrewed, six-week test flight around the moon and back.
