The US space agency (NASA) announced on Monday that it will try to launch the new SLS lunar rocket for the third time on September 27.
The September 27 launch window will open at 11:37 am (16:37 in Lisbon) for 70 minutesWhat end of mission scheduled for November 5.
A second possible window is scheduled for October 2the US space agency said.
Last week, NASA said it expected to launch the SLS on September 23 or 27.
The launch of the SLS rocket on September 27 is contingent on a special waiver that NASA will need to obtain to avoid retesting the batteries of a rocket’s emergency destruction system if it veers off course into a populated area.
If NASA doesn’t get this waiver, the rocket will have to return to the hangar, delaying the launch schedule for several weeks.
Since August 17, SLS has been on the launch pad.
The SLS, 98 meters high, is NASA’s most powerful rocket with which the United States intends that astronauts return to orbit the Moon in 2024 and to the surface in 2025, a year later than expected.
Only American astronauts, 12 in total and all men, have set foot on the Moon. The last time was in December 1972.
Technical problems, such as fuel leaks and lack of cooling for one of the main engines, prevented the SLS from taking off twice.on August 29 and September 3.
Like the SLS, the Orion spacecraft, attached to the rocket at the top, remained on the ground. The uncrewed flight would test the performance and safety of the spacecraft in lunar orbit before carrying astronauts.
Orion has the largest heat shield ever built and is designed to stay in space longer than any other astronaut spacecraft without docking to a space station.
Unlike the SLS rocket, which is not reusable, so multiple units will have to be built as needed, the Orion spacecraft is partially reusable.
The SLS test flight is part of the first mission of the new US lunar program Artemis, with which NASA hopes to “establish sustainable missions” to the Moon from 2028 with the aim of subsequently sending astronauts to Mars.
In 2025, if the dates don’t slip once more, the The United States wants to put the first woman astronaut and the first black astronaut on the moon.
Source: Observadora
