Artemis I postponed due to engine bleed issues

The rocket was planned to blast off during a two-hour launch window on 29th August, beginning at 8.33 EDT (13.33 BST). In what was set to be a historic moment for the sector, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft would travel thousands of miles beyond the Moon in a 42-day mission, next time with astronauts on board for Artemis II.

Engineers discovered an issue conditioning one of the RS-25 engines on the bottom of the Space Launch System (SLS)’s core stage after beginning overnight loading of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into the core stage tanks and interim cryogenic propulsion stage.

NASA reported that its launch controllers condition the engines by increasing pressure on the core stage tanks to ‘bleed’ some of the cryogenic propellant to the engines. This is required to get them to the necessary temperature range for lift-off.

Engineers had to troubleshoot an issue with Engine 3 not being properly conditioned through the bleed process. They were also reported to be assessing a crack in the thermal protection system material on one of the flanges on the core stage.

After running out of time to solve the issue within the two-hour launch window, NASA’S launch director called off the launch attempt whilst engineers continued to gather data.

Several other challenges were reported by NASA during what would’ve been the first fully integrated test flight of the space exploration systems. These included storms in the area which delayed propellant loading operations, a leak at the quick disconnect on the 8-inch line used to fill and drain core stage liquid hydrogen, and a hydrogen leak from a valve used to vent the propellant from the core stage intertank.

The mission management team is now set to meet this afternoon where they will assess the data gathered and plan for the next launch attempt. NASA is due to host a media teleconference around 18.00 EDT to provide updates.

Whilst not yet confirmed, the earliest possible opportunity for the next launch attempt would be this coming Friday (2nd September).

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