NASA Delays Another Launch, Just Days After Delaying Trip To The Moon

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Houston, we have a problem.

Again.

For the second time in less than a week, NASA has delayed a space launch.

On Tuesday, a NASA flight that was scheduled to travel to the International Space Station was cancelled.

The cancellation comes just days after NASA cancelled its Artemis II launch, which was expected to send astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1969.

Space Flight Now reported more on NASA’s delay:

The launch of the next crew rotation mission to the International Space Station will have to wait at least another day after NASA and SpaceX leadership determined weather along the flight path would be unacceptable.

Leaders moved the launch of Crew-12 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 12. That would place liftoff at 5:38 a.m. EST (1038 UTC) for NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway along with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

During a prelaunch briefing on Monday, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said weather along the ascent corridor for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket would’ve been unacceptable, if the Crew Dragon spacecraft needed to abort following liftoff.

“We could see high winds along a lot of that track, up to 24 to 28 knots, especially in what we would consider our higher risk areas, the staging area,” Stich said. “There’s a low pressure system that’s kind of moving in and setting over that staging area and it’s driving those winds up. And we can really see the models agreeing over the last 24 hours.”

Read NASA’s announcement below:

As for the moon launch, NASA is now aiming to launch in March.

USA Today reported more on NASA’s updated plans to travel to the moon:

It’s been a busy week for NASA’s Artemis lunar campaign, which has experienced a number of recent setbacks as the agency has again delayed the first crewed mission under the program.

The launch date for a mission known as Artemis 2, the second spaceflight under the multibillion-dollar program, has been in flux in recent days due to a variety of unforeseen circumstances.

First, there was an unseasonable cold snap in Florida that prompted NASA to delay a critical prelaunch test meant to assess the status of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will propel the astronauts on journey around the moon. Delaying the test, known as a wet dress rehearsal, meant delaying by a couple more days the earliest launch opportunity for the mission.

Then, when that test got underway, NASA’s ground teams encountered trouble with the towering rocket that raised concerns about its readiness to fly.

So, NASA pushed off the launch date once again – this time for at least a month.

After bumping the mission, the earliest the SLS rocket could now launch on the Artemis 2 mission would be March 6.

If NASA doesn’t step up its game, it may soon be replaced by private companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has already announced plans to colonize the Moon by 2035.

Take a look:

Full text:

For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years.

The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.

It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.

That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster.



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