CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — If you could fuel rocket ships with excitement, Artemis 1 had plenty to start the day Saturday. By late morning, though, big crowds gathered on the Space Coast were deflated - again.
A liquid hydrogen leak in the fueling system of the most powerful rocket system ever built by NASA could not be fixed. Fueling problems scrubbed the first launch attempt Monday. Scrub number two late Saturday morning is sending the Orear family back to Tennessee.
Rick Orear told me, “We got things we have to do first of the week so we are going to head on back. We’re disappointed (as) we are big fans. We come down for a lot of launches.”
Katy and Reggie Hess came all the way from Jupiter for the second time in a week. Today is Reggie's birthday. “This is my party, all 500,000, he said, “would have been a blast.”
They promise to be back. The attraction - an uncrewed Artemis test mission that NASA believes will put America on track to send astronauts back to the moon in a few years time, including the first woman and person of color.
Katy Hess summed it up. “It’s so inspiring just to see what man can achieve. It moves me to tears,” she said.