NASA’s launch of the moon, perhaps late September | Sciences

NASA is hoping for a new launch attempt for the crisis-plagued Artemis 1 lunar mission at the end of September. At a news conference on Thursday, NASA said September 23 or 27 is currently a target. Before that, there should be a refueling test on September 17th. However, not all of these appointments have been finalized yet and can also be postponed.

Previously, two attempts to start last week failed – among other things due to a leaking fuel hose. The missile system was then initially returned to the hangar at Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida, USA.

Problems also arose in the previous “Artemis” tests, which eventually led to the first significant delay in the project. With the program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, American astronauts should land on the moon again by 2024, for the first time a woman and a non-white person.

Meanwhile, NASA has ordered suits for the lunar flight from Axiom Space. The US company, which is already working with NASA on commercial space station modules and sent four amateur astronauts to the International Space Station in April, was selected in the first such tender, NASA said. The value of the order is estimated at about $229 million.

The spacesuits that NASA astronauts currently wear on the International Space Station are many years old. Incidents of water accumulating in helmets during field operations have also raised concerns. Among other things, German astronaut Matthias Maurer was affected. The development of new spacesuits was planned for a long time, but was delayed due to various problems.