The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday will attempt to launch its uncrewed moon mission Artemis 1 in the two-hour launch window opening at 2:17 pm ET (11:47pm as per Indian time). This second attempt is planned after the first was called off as the space launch system developed a technical snag.

Although the launch has been scheduled, the meteorologists at NASA have raised concern of scattered rain showers. They have predicted only 60 per cent favourable weather at the start of the launch window, however, it will subsequently improve to 80 per cent at the end.

NASA has said that it will take the final call for the launch after inspecting the prevailing condition. “The mission management team will meet early in the morning (by noon as per Indian time), Saturday, Sept. 3 and give the final determination for a “go” or “no-go” decision to begin tanking operations,” an update from NASA reads.

Why it didn’t take-off on Monday ?

The first attempt to launch NASA Artemis 1 mission was called off after the crew ‘ran off time’ in the two-hour launch window available on Monday. The countdown was stopped at T-40 mins after the crew found a technical flaw in one of its engines.

NASA informed that a bleed test to get the RS-25 engines on the bottom of the core stage to the proper temperature range for lift-off was unsuccessful.

Before launch, the engine was to be conditioned i.e. to be bled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

This problem can be simply understood as that one of the four main engines could not be properly chilled ahead of its ignition.

Crew came with a troubleshooting plant but could not solve the problem. After the troubleshooting didn’t work, the launch director asked the hydrogen team to come up with a fresh strategy to address the problem.

When and where to watch

Netizens are asking how they can watch the livestreaming of the event. They can watch the launch with commentary directly from the following window. Livestream for the event will start at 3:15 pm with loading of propellant in the space launch system.

Alternatively, the launch will also be live-streamed on NASA’s media platform- NASA television on the agency’s website and the NASA app, and its social media handles of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.