‘We’ll go back to the moon’: Kamala Harris reaffirms her trust in NASA after Artemis 1 is suspended

Vice President of the United States kamalaharris, been to the Kennedy Center POT waiting for what was supposed to be a flight Artemis 1 to Moon. However, after the suspension, he did not despair and mentioned his excitement about what awaits astronomy.

“We will return to Moon”, he said in a post on his Twitter account shortly after the suspension was announced.

In press statements, the Vice President highlighted the work of engineers and scientists POTwho “have the ability to see what is possible and what has never been done before.”

Harris, who is also president of the National Space Council, confirmed that the government’s commitment to the program sagebrush “standing firmly.”

Expectations despite error

The anticipation generated by the first of the program’s missions sagebrushwhich POT wants to lay the foundations for a permanent human presence in Moon and “outside,” it was big, to the point where at least 100,000 visitors flocked to Florida’s Space Coast who wanted to witness Monday’s launch, according to local tourism office estimates.

In turn, the manager POTBill Nelson, justified the “prudent” decision to suspend today’s launch and recalled that this mission, which had been about six weeks to travel to Moon Round Trip sought to test the capabilities of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and the Orion capsule.

“This is a very complex machine, a very complex system. All of these things have to work, and you don’t want to light a candle until it’s ready to go,” he told NASA TV.

The space agency administrator was in 1986 a member of the crew of the Space Shuttle program mission, which, as he recalled today, was suspended up to four times before it successfully took off.

historical system

Today’s suspension is a setback for a $4 billion mission by some media outlets that marked the full debut of the 98-meter high SLS rocket (larger than New York’s Statue of Liberty) and the most powerful ever built to date thanks to its four RS-25 engines. and two installed accelerators.

The delayed design and construction rocket also had problems with important pre-launch tests, one of which in June involved loading liquid hydrogen.

It was this morning’s failure that was associated with the inability of the RS-25 engine to reach the proper temperature, which it should have during takeoff, after loading with liquid hydrogen.

Artemis I He also wants to calibrate the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft, which can accommodate up to four crew members, as well as water and oxygen supplies that would allow it about 20 days of autonomous travel.

After separation from the SLS rocket, in principle, two hours after launch, Orion will be able to continue its journey, which in total will be about 2.1 million kilometers.

The ship will fly by Moonalmost 100 kilometers from its surface, and then enter the deep lunar orbit, where it will reach more than 61,000 kilometers from the Earth’s satellite, that is, as far as no other crew capsule has gone.

Program sagebrush is tasked with replacing its predecessor, the Apollo program, whose last mission, Apollo 17, took place in 1972 and represents the last time a man landed on the lunar surface.

The absence that POT hopes to end when the Artemis III mission lands on Earth’s satellite, possibly towards the middle of this decade, and will also do so with the first woman and first colored man to travel to Earth. Moon.

Before that, Artemis II will have to make the same journey as the mission suspended today, but with a crew. POT was planned for 2024, but Nelson aims more for 2025. (According to EFE)

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