The Long and Treacherous 'Road to the Moon'... US Artemis Launch Canceled Again

Cancellation of 3rd Launch Scheduled for 27th Due to Approaching Storm
Possibility of Postponement to November

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) canceled the Artemis 1 rocket launch scheduled for the 27th. The photo shows the Space Launch System (SLS) standing on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The launch of NASA's 'Artemis I' mission rocket, part of the project to return to the Moon after more than 50 years, has once again been canceled.

On the 24th (local time), NASA announced the cancellation of the launch attempt plan for the Artemis I rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which was scheduled for the 27th. This is the third cancellation of the Artemis I rocket launch.

This is due to Tropical Storm Ian currently raging in the Caribbean, which is expected to strengthen to hurricane level, and the storm is moving northward, posing a risk of striking the Florida coast, including the Kennedy Space Center, the rocket launch site.

The Artemis I rocket is designed not to launch during rainy weather to avoid lightning damage during flight. This is not only because of exposure to natural lightning but also considering that the rocket passing through the atmosphere's strong magnetic field could trigger lightning.

With the cancellation of the third launch attempt, NASA is also considering moving the 98-meter-long SLS rocket, currently standing on the launch pad, to the assembly building 6.5 km away. Regarding this, the Associated Press reported that if the rocket remains on the launch pad, a reattempt could be made on November 2nd, but moving it to the assembly building would require more time for launch preparations, possibly delaying the launch until November.

The Artemis I rocket can withstand winds of 137 km/h when standing on the launch pad and 74 km/h when transported on a special vehicle, with the transfer process, including preparations, taking three days.

Previously, the Artemis I rocket's first launch attempt on the 29th of last month failed due to a temperature sensor defect in the rocket engine, and the second launch attempt scheduled for the 3rd of this month was halted due to a hydrogen fuel leak issue at the rocket's lower section.

Meanwhile, as the Moon return project continues to be delayed for various reasons, netizens have raised various questions about the US manned lunar landings from 1969 to 1972. On the internet, there are various discussions including conspiracy theories such as "It's hard to launch even unmanned rockets now, so how did they have manned missions in 1969?", "We still can't easily go to the Moon now, so did we really go 50 years ago?", and "The Soviet Union knew the Moon conquest was fabricated but turned a blind eye at the time."

Humanity first set foot on the Moon with Apollo 11 in 1969, and the last was Apollo 17 in 1972.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.