![]() ![]() Sadly, the shuttle and astronauts aboard were lost in an explosion 74 seconds after launch. The launch was also scrubbed twice due to weather and technical problems, and finally the mission experienced two delays on the day of the actual launch. First, the mission experienced two postponements for a total of three days to accommodate the landing of the space shuttle Columbia. The ill-fated launch of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986 experienced all of these hold-ups. A delay is when a launch occurs later in a day than originally planned, but does happen in the same day. Scrubs are usually a last-minute decision triggered by bad weather or mechanical issues causing safety concerns. ![]() Scrubs are when a mission is halted on the day the launch is supposed to occur and rescheduled for a later date. Postponements refer to pushing a planned launch date back to a later date. Launches that don’t go off on time are classified as either postponements, scrubs or delays. But as private space launch activities continue to grow, the odds of watching an on-time launch are slowly improving. ![]() While Artemis 1 is continuing the long tradition of delayed NASA launches, there are good reasons for the high level of caution that underlies these delays. Of NASA’s 135 Space Shuttle missions, only about 40 percent launched on time. and other nations have been at launching rockets into space over the decades, a huge number of launches get delayed due to weather or safety concerns. One lesson I’ve learned is that as successful as the U.S. I am a professor of space studies who teaches courses in space law and history. But this launch has already been pushed back four times this year - twice due to technical issues and once apiece for a tropical storm and a hurricane. I love a good space launch, and I have been eagerly awaiting NASA’s powerful new Space Launch System rocket to take off as the first part of NASA’s ambitious Artemis Mission to put U.S. ![]()
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