NASA announced Tuesday that it has rescheduled its Artemis 1 launch for Nov. 16 as the mission to the moon is disrupted yet again by hurricane season.
Tropical Storm Nicole is still classified as only a storm by the National Weather Service and sits on the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida and its Kennedy Space Center. The weather service has alluded that the storm is likely to become a hurricane Wednesday.
NASA RESCHEDULES ARTEMIS 1 LAUNCH FOR MID-NOVEMBER
“Adjusting the target launch date will allow the workforce to tend to the needs of their families and homes, and provide sufficient logistical time to get back into launch status following the storm,” NASA wrote in a press release. The launch now scheduled for the 16th will take place, “pending safe conditions for employees to return to work, as well as inspections after the storm has passed.” Should that day still not be safe enough to launch, there is a backup date of Nov. 19.
As teams continue to monitor Tropical Storm Nicole, we’ve decided to re-target the launch for the #Artemis I mission to Wednesday, Nov. 16, pending safe conditions for employees to return to work. https://t.co/08yHOd2a17 pic.twitter.com/QfWhjyTlE7
— NASA (@NASA) November 8, 2022
In the meantime, the Kennedy Space Center is set to HURCON III status, which includes securing facilities, property, and equipment and deploying a ride-out team that will monitor the storm. The Artemis I rocket will remain secured on its pad, as there it can withstand winds up to 85 miles per hour according to the administration. Per the most recent report from the weather service, Nicole is only expected to hit about 39 mph across Florida.
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This comes after the launch has been delayed four times for various reasons. Most recently, the mission to the moon was set to begin on Sept. 27 but was delayed due to Hurricane Ian, which made landfall that same week. The Artemis 1 322-foot rocket was even removed from the launchpad and into a hangar at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Previously, a liquid hydrogen leak led to the rocket’s second rescheduled launch, which was a problem during the rocket’s first launch as well.
Artemis 1 is supposed to be “the first flight test of the integrated Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket,” according to NASA’s website, and the unmanned rocket “will fly 40,000 miles beyond the Moon and back, demonstrating our capability to send humans to lunar orbit on the second flight test.”
