Artemis 1 moon mission is ‘go’ for Saturday launch: NASA

• During a discussion today, the Artemis 1 team firmly decided to go ahead with a liftoff attempt on Saturday, September 3, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Sept. 1).
• When the moment arrives, a two-hour window beginning at 2:17 p.m. EDT will allow you to witness the anxiously awaited launch live right here on Space.com (1817 GMT).
• There’s no guarantee that we’ll get off on Saturday, but we’re going to try, mission manager for Artemis Mike Sarafin stated at a news conference this evening (Sept. 1).
• Originally planned to launch on Monday morning (August 29), Artemis 1 was delayed due to an issue with one of the four RS-25 engines that power the SLS core stage that was identified during the countdown.

According to NASA officials, such thermal conditioning, achieved by “bleeding” supercold liquid hydrogen propellant into the RS-25s, lessens the shock when the engines ignite.

The effort on Monday was canceled because the Artemis 1 team was unable to resolve the problem before the launch window ended.

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Team members claimed at a news conference on Tuesday night that more investigation over the course of the following day or two indicated that the problem wasn’t severe and that the evidence pointed to a malfunctioning temperature sensor in the defective RS-25 engine (Aug. 30).

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They identified Saturday as the planned launch date and expressed confidence that Artemis 1 wouldn’t be on the ground for very long.

Mission team members revealed at this evening’s news conference that the conclusion has been solidified after two more days of effort and deliberation.

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