The American space agency, NASA continues its effort to move forward at the launch of the unmanned Artemis 1 mission to the Moon, today, Wednesday, November 16after inspection of the SLS rocket revealed only minor damage due to Hurricane Nicole hitting Florida.
The launch of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA, was scheduled for 01:04 (local time – 08:04 Greek time), however NASA informed that there will be a delay. The US space agency gave a “time window” of 2 hours, without specifically announcing the new launch time.
The unmanned Artemis 1 mission is a test and is not intended to land the Orion capsule, which is designed to carry astronauts. Once launched, the mission will last about 25 days and the capsule will return to Earth on December 11.
NASA has two alternative launch dates: November 19th and 25th. “We are currently focused on November 16th and if there is an obstruction then we will look at the possibility of November 19th”said Jim Free.
The SLS rocket remained on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center during the arrival of Hurricane Nicole. However, the winds that accompanied it did not exceed its endurance limits, according to the NASA official. He noted that if NASA had been informed of a potential threat from the cyclone, it would have left the rocket in the assembly building for safety reasons.
After all, the missile had returned there in late September to protect from Hurricane Ian and had returned to the pad just days before the arrival of Cyclone Nicole.
Earlier, two launch attempts were aborted at the last minute due to technical problems.
The unmanned mission marks the start of the flagship Artemis program, which aspires to send the first woman to the Moon by 2025 at the earliest. NASA plans to maintain a permanent presence of astronauts on the Moon, including building a space station in orbit around Earth’s satellite. For the US space agency, it will be the springboard for the first mission to the planet Mars.
Source: News Beast
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