Take 2 on space launch

NASA officials said they are working on understanding and correcting the engine bleed failure that delayed the first test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Monday and are pushing to retry the launch to the moon on Friday.

 

Speaking at a press conference hours after officials scrubbed the launch, NASA executives said Friday is still in play but stressed that the second launch attempt depends on a number of variables, including how quickly they can assess and correct what went wrong during Monday’s test.

 

Mike Sarafin, the mission manager for Artemis, noted scrubs are common and part of the process in testing new technology, especially considering the SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built.

 

He promised Monday’s failure at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center would not deter NASA from getting the SLS and the Orion exploration spacecraft into space.

 

“We all want to see that next milestone, that next step, and seeing smoke and fire is something everybody enjoys,” he said. “This is an incredibly hard business, we’re trying to do something that hasn’t been done in over 50 years.”