America Must Go to the Moon: Repeal Begins! The rocket failed to take off again | Life and knowledge

Flight to the Moon – Shut Up, Second!

Nothing again! Again, NASA had to cancel the moon rocket launch. At this point it appears to be a leak in a seal. This happened only after refueling had started. The monster rocket should actually take the Orion spacecraft around the moon tonight at 8:17 p.m. The first attempt to take off five days earlier had already failed because there were a series of technical problems – primarily one engine that could not be cooled sufficiently. Yesterday, NASA engineers gave the “go” to the second launch attempt.

The Artemis mission is slowly turning into a real disaster. It is one of America’s most prestigious space programs since the Apollo missions to the moon.

The first release was planned for 2016, but there were always delays in development and a real explosion in prices. The project has now swallowed 23 billion euros. Critics call the SLS a Frankenstein rocket because NASA used souped-up engines and boosters from the Space Shuttle program.

No new start date yet…

BILD describes “Mission Artemis”.

► Starting Location: NASA’s new SLS giant rocket (cost: four billion euros) took off from a place steeped in history – the launch pad of previous Apollo missions. In 1972, Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17) was the last person to walk on the surface of the Moon.

► Order: NASA sends the Orion spacecraft to our moon as an experiment without astronauts. Orion is said to circle the moon several times and then return to Earth. This first assignment will last about six weeks.

► Technique: The SLS rocket is currently the most powerful rocket in the world. It was built by Boeing Aircraft Corporation of America. It reaches a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour in a few minutes and is equivalent to about 50 million hp. A real space monster!

Europeans also have a hand in the Orion spacecraft: the propulsion module was built by Airbus in Bremen on behalf of the European Space Agency ESA.

This is how it goes

► Next steps ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher explains in BILD: “If this test flight works, there will be a manned flight from next year, with Americans on board. Starting in 2025, two NASA astronauts are set to set foot on the moon again. A female and non-white astronaut. We Europeans will be around from 2025 to 2030.

►Astronauts: Europeans have already booked a total of four tickets to the moon. So there is a high chance that a German will be the first to fly to the moon. Alexander Gerst or Matthias Maurer is still undecided. Both have already expressed great interest. Matthias Maurer (52) told Bild: “Of course I’m ready for a trip to the moon. Age doesn’t matter. It’s important to be fit. And I’m fit.”

It is not yet certain who will be the first two American astronauts to set foot on the moon.

This lunar journey is just the beginning

The three Artemis missions build on each other and will bring humans back to the Moon for the first time since 1972 (early 2025).

In the long term, NASA and ESA want to work together to build a “lunar gateway station” that will help with research and at the same time be a transfer station to the moon. Astronauts then fly with Orion to the space station, from where a lander takes them to the moon.

A permanent lunar village is also planned. There, for example, oxygen can be distilled from lunar dust for rocket propulsion and hydrogen can be extracted from lunar ice.

Then both are needed to fly from the Moon to Mars.