Artemis 1 rocket about to be launched to begin surveying for a permanent moon base. Artemis 1 moon mission is 'go' for Saturday launch, NASA says https://www.space.com/artemis-1-moon-mission-go-launch-september-3 Sci Fi become reality.
Trail of politics and expert self-interests. - - - - - - Years after shuttle, NASA rediscovers the perils of liquid hydrogen https://arstechnica.com/science/202...sa-rediscovers-the-perils-of-liquid-hydrogen/ EXCERPTS: So why does NASA use liquid hydrogen as a fuel for its rockets if it is so difficult to work with and there are easier-to-handle alternatives such as methane or kerosene? One reason is that hydrogen is a very efficient fuel, meaning that it provides better "gas mileage" when used in rocket engines. However, the real answer is that Congress mandated that NASA continue to use space shuttle main engines as part of the SLS rocket program. [...] "We deferred to the experts," Nelson said. By this Nelson meant that the Senate worked alongside some officials at NASA, and within industry, to design the SLS rocket. These industry officials, who would continue to win lucrative contracts from NASA for their work on shuttle-related hardware, were only too happy to support the new rocket design. - - - - - - What To Make of the Artemis Launch Delays https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/what-to-make-of-the-artemis-launch-delays/ EXCERPTS: However, the life of the SLS started well before Artemis was envisioned. In 2011 the Obama administration cancelled the Constellation program, which was NASA’s next heavy lift rocket. The Shuttle program also ended that year. NASA, and perhaps more importantly all of its contractors, were left without a heavy lift rocket program. So a deal was struck, the Obama administration would fund a new heavy lift rocket program using as many existing components from Constellation and the Shuttle program as possible, and NASA would start outsourcing low Earth orbit (LEO) launches to private industry. The latter half of this deal has worked out spectacularly, with Space X being the prime example. But the success of the private rocket industry also served to highlight the extreme cost and inefficiency of the SLS program... [...] If we look at it from the perspective of the Artemis program, the original plan was to return to the Moon using the SLS and Orion by 2028. Trump decided he wanted to move this up to 2024, but this was never realistic. NASA has since pushed the date back to 2025, but are keeping the accelerated schedule. These recent delays, therefore, are only relative to a significant acceleration of the program. [...] Caution is appropriate, and this is what caution looks like.
They have decided to try to fix the leaky QD seal on the pad, without having to roll SLS back to the VAB. If that works, it will speed them up considerably. Latest news is that they have requested a two hour launch window on September 23, beginning at 6:47 AM EDT (that's 3:47 AM my time!). They have also requested a backup opportunity on Sept 27, starting at 11:37 AM EDT. https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2022...rations-continue-for-next-launch-opportunity/
By the time the US/NASA gets to the moon on a permanent basis, SpaceX may well have already been there and set up an automated t-shirt factory just to be able to hand them to the NASA astronauts upon arrival! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Right. The space industry joke is that when Artemis finally gets to the Moon, they can drop by the SpaceX Visitor's Center. Buy some Moon t-shirts and coffee mugs.
