NASA’s Artemis moon rocket is ready for another launch try on 14 Nov
- Artemis I, aimed at launching the Orion capsule on an uncrewed test flight to the moon and back, would mark the debut voyage of both the SLS rocket and Orion
After facing several technical and weather-related setbacks, NASA is confident to launch the highly anticipated Artemis 1 moon mission on November 14. The US space agency targeted 14 November for a third attempt to launch its big, next-generation rocketship.
Safety regulations and deteriorating weather conditions spawned by Hurricane Ian had forced NASA to return the towering rocketship to its hangar last month following two aborted launch attempts, on 29 August and 3 September.
The Artemis 1 mission stack, consisting of the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, is scheduled to once again roll out to Launch Pad 39B from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at 9:30 pm on Friday (4 November).
Standard maintenance still to be done at the pad includes repairing minor damage to insulation materials, and recharging or replacing batteries on the rocket, and on its satellite payloads and flight-termination system, NASA said in a statement announcing the new launch date.
NASA officials have previously said that a hydrogen fuel leak that forced them to scrub the last countdown three hours before liftoff has since been resolved.
The newly targeted 69-minute launch window for the Artemis I mission on 14 November opens at 12:07 a.m. EST (0407 GMT), with backup launch opportunities of two hours each set for 16 and 19 November, NASA said.
The latest string of difficulties in recent months come at the tail end of a rocket development program more than a decade in the making, with years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns under NASA's SLS and Orion contracts with Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, respectively.
Artemis I signals a major turning point for NASA's post-Apollo human spaceflight program. Artemis I, aimed at launching the Orion capsule on an uncrewed test flight to the moon and back, would mark the debut voyage of both the SLS rocket and Orion a half century after the final lunar mission of Apollo, forerunner of the Artemis program.
Named for the goddess who was Apollo's twin sister in ancient Greek mythology, Artemis seeks to return astronauts to the moon's surface as early as 2025, though many experts believe that time frame will likely slip.
NASA ultimately plans to establish a long-term lunar base of operations as a stepping stone to even more ambitious human voyages to Mars.
(With AP inputs)
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First Published:4 Nov 2022, 08:34 AM IST
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