NASA rocket test aborted prematurely, cause still unknown

The American space agency NASA had to prematurely abort an important test with the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket system during the night from Saturday to Sunday (Dutch time). The organization reports this a press release. The SLS, which in the future will provide manned flights to the moon, has been plagued by delays and higher costs since its introduction in 2011.

The test was in the run-up to the planned trial launch in November. For the first time, the four rocket engines were ignited simultaneously. It was intended that these would burn for eight minutes, the same time it will soon be needed to send the vehicle into space at a launch. But after just over a minute, the engines shut themselves off. NASA employees use data to find out how this is possible. NASA CEO Jim Bridenstine nevertheless spoke of an “important step forward” in the lunar program Artemis and in transporting astronauts in the future. The main goal is a moon landing of two American astronauts in 2024.

The Space Launch System is the long-awaited successor to the Space Shuttle spaceship and should make NASA less dependent on Russian rockets. At the moment, the Americans can only send astronauts into space with Russian soyuz rockets. The largest version of the new space launch system is 118 meters high and can put 130,000 kilograms into orbit, or at less weight even further than orbit. As is often the case with major space projects, SLS is facing technical problems and budget overruns, leaving it three years behind schedule and exceeding its budget by three billion dollars. Critics wonder why NASA doesn’t use commercial suppliers like SpaceX who promise cheaper rockets.

Also read: SpaceX: How Elon Musk wins the commercial space race

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