Dubai Telegraph - NASA Moon rocket ready for second attempt at liftoff

EUR -
AED 3.902662
AFN 71.721309
ALL 97.379693
AMD 411.736337
ANG 1.916033
AOA 969.546232
ARS 1060.127839
AUD 1.625131
AWG 1.914127
AZN 1.801069
BAM 1.95799
BBD 2.146602
BDT 127.04809
BGN 1.957961
BHD 0.40045
BIF 3079.178589
BMD 1.062518
BND 1.422859
BOB 7.372594
BRL 6.109269
BSD 1.063139
BTN 89.778648
BWP 14.463859
BYN 3.479155
BYR 20825.362437
BZD 2.142898
CAD 1.481204
CDF 3048.36535
CHF 0.93686
CLF 0.037964
CLP 1047.547807
CNY 7.684238
COP 4713.916414
CRC 544.034137
CUC 1.062518
CUP 28.15674
CVE 110.873467
CZK 25.383911
DJF 188.83088
DKK 7.460262
DOP 64.017024
DZD 141.785204
EGP 52.286219
ETB 129.094855
FJD 2.403428
GBP 0.833407
GEL 2.911181
GHS 17.441278
GMD 75.96944
GNF 9170.597089
GTQ 8.215576
GYD 222.406682
HKD 8.263897
HNL 26.62657
HTG 139.832992
HUF 410.833148
IDR 16783.435843
ILS 3.990905
INR 89.664885
IQD 1391.899224
IRR 44737.341364
ISK 147.509645
JMD 168.928957
JOD 0.753435
JPY 164.266469
KES 137.598404
KGS 91.590977
KHR 4308.512491
KMF 489.156922
KRW 1495.616936
KWD 0.326842
KYD 0.885933
KZT 527.584963
LAK 23332.906547
LBP 95201.656596
LKR 310.88237
LRD 196.937992
LSL 19.305457
LTL 3.137341
LVL 0.642707
LYD 5.169153
MAD 10.541246
MDL 19.030182
MGA 4930.08572
MKD 61.689003
MMK 3451.018615
MOP 8.517928
MRU 42.388737
MUR 50.055102
MVR 16.426769
MWK 1843.46991
MXN 21.859829
MYR 4.714381
MZN 67.921539
NAD 19.306154
NGN 1777.25314
NIO 39.074133
NOK 11.766909
NPR 143.645436
NZD 1.791815
OMR 0.409087
PAB 1.063139
PEN 4.025844
PGK 4.265746
PHP 62.428268
PKR 295.327037
PLN 4.352023
PYG 8306.291093
QAR 3.868364
RON 4.977046
RSD 116.988606
RUB 104.392478
RWF 1451.40026
SAR 3.992277
SBD 8.862205
SCR 14.442803
SDG 639.107629
SEK 11.579093
SGD 1.422059
SLE 24.21852
SOS 607.24094
SRD 37.43785
STD 21991.987562
SVC 9.302844
SZL 18.732581
THB 36.986341
TJS 11.300434
TMT 3.72944
TND 3.344276
TOP 2.488527
TRY 36.515562
TTD 7.224421
TWD 34.473942
TZS 2828.280754
UAH 44.030751
UGX 3906.553553
USD 1.062518
UYU 44.822246
UZS 13632.112684
VES 47.682447
VND 26934.843765
XAF 656.722488
XCD 2.871509
XDR 0.800934
XOF 646.010986
XPF 119.331742
YER 265.443696
ZAR 19.237269
ZMK 9563.943308
ZMW 28.943737
ZWL 342.130521
  • RBGPF

    0.0300

    60.22

    +0.05%

  • CMSC

    -0.1800

    24.54

    -0.73%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    13.67

    +0.15%

  • BCC

    -2.0100

    141.13

    -1.42%

  • RELX

    -1.2100

    46.59

    -2.6%

  • GSK

    -0.8300

    35.52

    -2.34%

  • AZN

    0.4000

    65.19

    +0.61%

  • RIO

    -1.4000

    61.2

    -2.29%

  • NGG

    -1.2400

    62.9

    -1.97%

  • CMSD

    -0.2100

    24.75

    -0.85%

  • BTI

    0.0900

    35.24

    +0.26%

  • JRI

    -0.3000

    13.22

    -2.27%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1700

    7.16

    -2.37%

  • BCE

    -0.1600

    27.69

    -0.58%

  • BP

    -0.7600

    28.16

    -2.7%

  • VOD

    -0.8500

    8.47

    -10.04%

NASA Moon rocket ready for second attempt at liftoff
NASA Moon rocket ready for second attempt at liftoff / Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA - AFP

NASA Moon rocket ready for second attempt at liftoff

After technical issues halted its first launch attempt, NASA will try again on Saturday to get its new 30-story rocket off the ground and send its unmanned test capsule towards the Moon.

Text size:

If the massive Space Launch System (SLS) lifts off successfully, it will not only be awe-inspiring but also historic for NASA, marking the first of its Artemis program plotting a return to the Moon, fifty years after the final Apollo mission.

The launch is scheduled for 2:17 pm local time (1817 GMT) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a possible two-hour delay if necessary.

"Our team is ready," said Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager of exploration ground systems at Kennedy Space Center, on Friday.

"They are getting better with every attempt and actually performed superbly during launch countdown number one... I think if the conditions with weather and the hardware align, we'll absolutely go."

Though the area around the launch site will be closed to the public, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather on beaches nearby to see -- and hear -- the most powerful vehicle that NASA has ever launched climb into space.

NASA's initial launch attempt on Monday was halted after engineers detected a fuel leak and a sensor showed that one of the rocket's four main engines was too hot.

Both issues have since been resolved, and the weather appears to be cooperating: the US Space Force predicts a 60 percent chance of favorable weather at the scheduled liftoff time, growing to 80 percent later in the launch window.

If something requires NASA to stand down again on Saturday, there are backup opportunities on Monday or Tuesday. After that, the next launch window will not be until September 19 at the earliest, due to the Moon's position.

The purpose of the Artemis 1 mission is to verify that the Orion capsule, which sits atop the SLS rocket, is safe to carry astronauts in the future.

Mannequins equipped with sensors are standing in for astronauts on the mission and will record acceleration, vibration and radiation levels.

- Apollo's twin sister -

It will take several days for the spacecraft to reach the Moon, flying around 60 miles (100 kilometers) at its closest approach. The capsule will fire its engines to get to a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) of 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, a record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans.

The trip is expected to last around six weeks and one of its main objectives is to test the capsule's heat shield, which at 16 feet in diameter is the largest ever built.

On its return to Earth's atmosphere, the heat shield will have to withstand speeds of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) -- roughly half as hot as the Sun.

Artemis is named after the twin sister of the Greek god Apollo, after whom the first Moon missions were named.

Unlike the Apollo missions, which sent only white men to the Moon between 1969 and 1972, Artemis missions will see the first person of color and the first woman step foot on the lunar surface.

Fittingly, NASA's first woman launch director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, will give the final "go" for liftoff on Saturday.

A successful Artemis 1 mission will come as a huge relief to the US space agency, after years of delays and cost overruns.

A government audit estimates the program's cost will grow to $93 billion by 2025, with each of its first four missions clocking in at a whopping $4.1 billion per launch.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts to the Moon without landing on its surface.

The crew of Artemis 3 is to land on the Moon in 2025 at the earliest, with later missions envisaging a lunar space station and a sustainable presence on the lunar surface.

According to NASA chief Bill Nelson, a manned trip to the red planet aboard Orion, which would last several years, could be attempted by the end of the 2030s.

G.Gopinath--DT