The curse continues for the Artemis 1 space mission: the launch of NASA’s new rocket to the Moon has been postponed again, at the earliest, to Wednesday, November 16, due to storm Nicole, which should hit Florida in the middle of the week NASA reported. announced Tuesday.
Liftoff had previously been scheduled in less than a week, on November 14, but NASA said in a statement that it wanted to allow its employees to meet “the needs of their families” in the face of this storm, which should have intensified. a hurricane at landfall. After its passage, NASA will also need “sufficient logistical time” to return the rocket to its launch configuration, he added.
Another alternative date on November 19
On November 16, the dismissal window will open at 01:04 local time (06:04 GMT), but this new date is suspended due to “safe conditions for the return to work of employees, as well as inspections after the passage of Storm”. ”, NASA said.
If necessary, another reservation date had previously been set, November 19. NASA also said Tuesday that it was working on possible “additional launch opportunities.”
The storm, currently over the Atlantic Ocean, is expected to strengthen into a hurricane Wednesday near the Bahamas, before reaching Florida overnight Wednesday or Thursday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center ( NHC). A hurricane watch has been issued for the coast in the area of the Kennedy Space Center, where the rocket is on its launch pad.
Called SLS, it is designed to withstand winds of 74.4 knots, or approximately 137 km/h. “Current forecasts predict that the greatest risks on the launch pad are high winds, which are not expected to exceed the design of the SLS,” NASA said. “The rocket is designed to withstand heavy rain.” On Tuesday afternoon, Nicole’s sustained winds reached “100 km/h, with higher gusts,” according to the NHC. And the storm is expected to strengthen further.
New postponement of a symbolic space mission
This summer, two liftoff attempts were canceled at the last moment due to technical problems when filling the rocket’s tanks with fuel. The 98-meter-tall machine then had to be returned to its assembly building at the end of September, a few kilometers away, to be protected from another hurricane, Ian.
The rocket, estimated to be worth several billion dollars, has only been back on its launch pad for a few days.
The Artemis 1 test mission, without an astronaut on board, will mark the first flight of the main American program back to the Moon. The Artemis program should allow the first woman and the first person of color to land on the Moon, in 2025 at the earliest. NASA also wants to establish a lasting human presence there, including building a space station in orbit around the Moon.
For the US space agency, this is a step that should then allow a first trip to Mars.
Source: BFM TV
