The long-awaited launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket has been postponed until mid-November after NASA abandoned a launch scheduled for Sept. 27 in the wake of Hurricane Ian. NASA announced Friday that it aims to complete the Artemis I launch in the window between Nov. 12 and Nov. 27. ) launch.
Previously NASA thought the next SLS launch was likely to take place in October, but the attempt was eventually scrapped after NASA decided to roll the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to avoid the storm. NASA successfully secured the rocket on Tuesday after making the huge rocket’s slow trek through orbit to the VAB that lasted several hours.
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane but had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it reached Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, and NASA said there was “no damage to Artemis flight hardware” and its facilities suffered only “minor water intrusion.
NASA’s Artemis I launch will send an unmanned Orion capsule on a trip around the moon, paving the way for a future mission that will land the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface. The agency’s first launch attempt was cut short after the rocket encountered engine problems, while a second launch was marred by a leak while engineers were loading the rocket with frozen liquid hydrogen fuel. Subsequent tests of the rocket’s fuel system showed that the leak was still present but at a more “manageable” level.
Now that the rocket is back at the VAB, NASA said it will “prepare for additional checks” and retest the flight termination system that the Space Force will use to destroy the rocket if it goes off course.
