With NASA’s Artemis launch scheduled for Monday, August 29 I thought we might need a thread for all things Artemis/SLS/Orion similar to the Webb thread.
One thing I find interesting is that Artemis I will likely complete its entire 42 day-ish mission before CAPSTONE even enters lunar orbit — and the latter was launched two months ago. Orbital mechanics and the amount of delta-v you have available make for interesting trajectories.
I’ve been of two minds of the program for over a decade now, so while I’m excited to see SLS finally launch, the way Congress has treated it as a perenially underfunded jobs program (with the resulting schedule and cost overruns) has left me disenchanted with it. And when you factor in the rapid (dare I say, Apollo-like) rate of progress by SpaceX down in Boca Chica, Texas over the last 24 months on a vehicle that is intended have twice the lifting capacity, be completely reusable, and have a higher build and launch cadence, it’s hard not to wonder how long SLS will persist if Starship/Super Heavy proves successful.
The Internet memes comparing Orion and Starship HLS to SPECTRE’s space capsule snatcher in You Only Live Twice after Artemis III launches will be enthralling to watch.
My uncle said he was going to watch the launch in person at a spot about 10 miles from the launch pad. I’ll have to check back with him to see if he got any good photos.
Alas a scrub for today. Some liquid hydrogen flow issue in one of the four main engines. They’re keeping the vehicle at its current fueled state for a while longer to do more investigation and data collection.
Next launch opportunities are Friday mid-day, then Monday evening (US Labor Day), though they will need to find a solution for this issue first.
Not today, unfortunately. Launch scrubbed due to a hydrogen leak in the quick disconnect cavity from a fuel connector not properly sealing. Won’t know for a bit yet whether it’ll be fixable on the pad allowing another try around Tuesday, or if SLS needs to be carted back to the VAB for work, in which case we’re looking at October for the next attempt.
The first all-up test flight of the Saturn V, Apollo 4, occurred eleven months after it was originally scheduled to. The problems exposed after the Apollo 1 fire were not limited to just the command and service modules. So SLS is running about par for the course so far.
We’ve been spoiled by the clockwork precision of the launches of older, well-understood vehicles like the Falcon 9, Atlas V, Proton, Soyuz, Ariane 5, and many of the Long Match series. The Space Shuttle always seemed to be a bit temperamental. Even had SLS not suffered years of delays during development, it still would have had these teething problems.
I feel bad for the 200K plus people that drove over here to watch another scrubbed launch. My house is about 25 miles from the pads at KSC, when it does finally launch, I’m gonna be watching out my front door.