It may be somewhat unkind to say Artemis 'fouled up', NASA were naturally being cautious and doing the right thing, but Monday 29th August could have been the first step made on the long road of returning humans back to the Moon. As you will probably know the launch was scrubbed 40 minutes before entering the 'launch window period' due to an engine bleed issue on engine number 3 on the SLS rocket. A number of technical issues had already been overcome before the engine bleed issue arose. 

Artemis 1 mission - the SLS rocket as the clock counts down. (click for full image)

NASA are now hoping that the SLS rocket may be ready for a launch window on Saturday September 3rd - perhaps around 18:00 hrs BST, assuming that is the problem has been resolved. If not, dates in October are scheduled for the next launch window. 

Artemis 1 will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon. This mission, which is a test run and unmanned, will place the Orion spacecraft using NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket into Earth orbit, before setting the Orion spacecraft on course for the Moon and into a lunar insertion orbit and eventual return path taking upwards of 42 days in all. 

NASA's SLS rocket stands on launch pad 36B - the dawn of a new era (click for full image)

The mission will hopefully be on hold only briefly, and by Saturday 3rd may be en-route. Let's be optimistic and assuming all does go to plan, a manned test flight will be carried out next year, before the Artemis III mission and a manned Moon landing occurs in 2025 or 2026.  

The intended flight test path of Artemis 1 (click for full image)

Keep abreast of the media for reports and live broadcasts. Hopefully next month we shall have some positive news. 

Visit https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1 for all latest information on the mission. 

Images- courtesy of NASA