Artemis 1 Launch Scrubbed

but not today

 I was going to watch the Artemis 1 mission launch this morning (Monday 8-29-2022) but it got scrubbed.  

I remember watching the space missions on TV during the 1960s.  Somtimes there were holds during the countdowns and a lot of conversation from the CBS hosts like Walter Cronkite (who always seemed to be talking to former astronaut Wally Schirra) to fill the empty air time.

source: https://i2.wp.com/www.anecdotes-spatiales.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Schirra-Cronkite-Apollo-17.png

I'm excited about space exploration in the 21st century.  Hopefully it will also interest school kids.  It did when I was a grade school kid in the 1960s and kept a scrapbook on the Gemini and Apollo programs.  I can remember wanting to be an engineer in the 6th grade.  And solving the currently impossible engineering problems that will crop up along the way will be the task of NASA and their contractors.  NASA and the contractors will also need new engineers to find the solutions.  Those solutions will often require the first (read high priced) items off an assembly line.  Think of the expensive transistors used by NASA and the DOD during the 1950s - and the expensive integrated circuits used by the same pair in the 1960s.  Those first items are part of what built Silicon Valley.  Without early adopters like NASA and DOD we'd never have the inexpensive electronics of today.  Also seemingly mundane things like dust collection will have to be solved to live and work on the Moon and Mars.

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/dust.html

Certainly better ways of cleaning up would also help here on earth.  And there are the effects of radiation, low or no gravity, food and water production - lots of stuff needs to be figured out to make Moon or Mars colonies prevail.

Alas per this article:  

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/warning-sign-nasa-never-finished-a-fueling-test-before-todays-sls-launch-attempt/

NASA may have shot themselves in the foot by trying to hurry things up to launch Artemis 1, but I'm sure they'll get it figured out.

BTW writer Eric Berger posts several articles on ArsTechnica each week, usually on space but also on weather:

https://arstechnica.com/author/ericberger/

He wrote an interesting book on the early history of Spacex called:  Liftoff

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm