Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 4-10, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House will meet only in pro forma sessions, but committees will meet virtually.
NASA’s second try to launch the Artemis I test flight around the Moon ended the same way as the first — a scrub. On Monday, several problems arose including a liquid hydrogen leak. That one was fixed, but today another hydrogen leak in a different place did not respond to the valiant efforts of NASA’s engineers. NASA officials are still investigating what went wrong, but expect it will take several weeks to fix so it will be some time before they try again.
Launch of NASA’s Artemis I uncrewed test flight is still set for tomorrow afternoon, September 3, at 2:17 pm ET. During an update briefing this morning, Launch Weather Officer Melody Lovin again said she does not expect weather to be a showstopper, though the chances are better towards the end of the two-hour launch window. Weather is only one factor that could scrub the launch, but hopes are high tomorrow will be the day.
NASA confirmed this afternoon that the second attempt to launch the Artemis I test flight will be on Saturday, September 3, at 2:17 pm ET. Readings that showed one of the engines did not chill down to the correct temperature have been traced to a bad sensor. Other anomalies have been solved or deemed to be within risk tolerances. Officials cautioned that many things could cause another scrub, but they’re ready to try and “see what the day brings.”
NASA announced today it will try again on Saturday to launch Artemis I. The weather forecast is only 40 percent favorable and they are not completely certain why one of the four engines did not chill down to the correct temperature, but conveyed optimism that Saturday is the right day for a second attempt. The two-hour launch window opens at 2:17 pm ET. …
NASA’s launch of the Artemis I test flight around the Moon scrubbed today because of a problem chilling one of the four RS-25 engines down to operating temperatures. The next opportunity is Friday, but NASA is still determining if it will be ready to try again by then. Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the White House National Space Council, was at the launch and undaunted by the delay, telling reporters “a lot of good work really happened today.”
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of August 28-September 3, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess except for pro forma sessions.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband will travel to Kennedy Space Center on Monday to watch the Artemis I launch in person. She chairs the White House National Space Council and her engagement in space activities is picking up a little.
NASA and Boeing said today they are targeting February 2023 for the Crew Flight Test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle. Starliner is the competitor to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, but far behind. If the Crew Flight Test goes as planned, Boeing hopes to have its first operational Starliner flight to the International Space Station in the fall of 2023, about three years after SpaceX’s Crew-1.
NASA is not requiring SpaceX to demonstrate that its Starship Human Landing System can take off from the lunar surface before using it for the Artemis III mission and the test vehicle will be a “skeleton” of the actual lander. NASA selected SpaceX to build the lander for Artemis III preceded by an uncrewed test flight, but the head of NASA’s HLS program said today the demo does not include liftoff. She also stressed that Starship is still in the design and development phase with many challenges ahead, not ready to go as some seem to believe.