BANGOR, Maine — A day that was supposed to be full of cheering, excitement, and hope was met with disappointment.
NASA’s Artemis 1 was set to launch for its first unmanned test flight on Monday morning.
A fuel leak and an engine problem forced NASA to keep the Artemis moon rocket on the ground, leaving many at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine’s watch party a bit let down.
“I came here to watch the launch, and sadly it did get scrubbed, which is kind of a bummer,” Daniel Guntroph, one of the over 40 kids in attendance, said.
Though the anticipation was crushed when the announcement came over the big screen, the Challenger Center was quick to rekindle the excitement with space-related activities. They used that time to remind the kids that the launch will still happen, just on a different day.
“It was still a very good day because everyone here was kind of in that celebration spirit, and so it was fine," Kirsten Hibbard, executive director at Challenger Learning Center of Maine, said. "We were like-minded and excited about space travel. It is always neat to be around others that are excited as well."
One of the young future astronauts in attendance, Landon Wilson, shared some wisdom about why they do these test launches in the first place.
“If they did launch it with real people in there, and something did go wrong, that would be very bad for the people inside the rocket ship,” Wilson said.
The next possible launch day is set for Sept. 2.