The launch of the Artemis moon is delayed again as Tropical Storm Ian intensifies

Faced with stormy weather ahead Tropical Storm Ianforecast to become a hurricane, NASA executives on Saturday ruled out a third attempt to launch the Artemis 1 lunar rocket on Tuesday, but left open the option of a launch at Blastoff on Oct. 2, the current backup date close.

That would require exposing the $4.1 billion, 330-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket on Pad 39B to the elements, assuming forecasters’ winds didn’t exceed 74 knots, the certified safety limit.

NASA’s Artemis 1 management team deferred a decision on whether to return the rocket to the shelter of the Vehicle Assembly Building in hopes of more favorable overnight forecasts that could allow it to weather the weather at the pad.

A decision is expected on Sunday. If a rollback is ordered, the 4.2-mile ride from Pad 39B to Kennedy Space Center’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building would begin late Sunday or early Monday.

This would allow the agency to “protect its employees by completing a safe role in time to attend to the needs of their families, while protecting the option to advance another launch opportunity in the current window if forecasts change.” improve,” NASA said in a blog post.

The Space Launch System rocket is the most powerful ever built for NASA, a gargantuan booster that will generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust on launch, enough to propel Orion crew ships into lunar orbit.

The rocket’s upcoming maiden flight – the Artemis 1 mission – will be unmanned. NASA hopes to launch four astronauts on a trip around the moon in 2024, followed by a landing near the South Pole in the Artemis 3 mission, which is optimistically scheduled for launch in 2025-26.

But first the Artemis 1 mission must lift off the ground, and the Orion capsule must successfully orbit the moon and safely complete a hell of a high-speed re-entry at the end of the flight to prove that the capsule’s heat shield protects the astronauts returning to space.

The SLS rocket can only target the moon during launch times, allowing for carefully planned trajectories that take into account a variety of factors, including the ever-changing positions of the Earth and Moon, the desired lunar orbit, proper lighting for Orion’s solar arrays, and optimized communications .

After several refueling tests and work to fix several problems, including repeated hydrogen leaks, NASA attempted the Artemis 1 mission on September 29. A second attempt on September 3 was also aborted by another hydrogen leak.

After working to replace a suspect seal in a quick connector, NASA conducted a refueling test, and while the fitting initially leaked, engineers were able to adjust flow rates and pressures to successfully fill the rocket’s tanks, setting the stage for a third start have been created try on tuesday. Then Ian intervened.

The current lunar start period ends on October 4th, seven days after Tuesday. But two of those days – October 29 and 30 – are unavailable due to flight path restrictions and three feature launch windows that are less than an hour long.

NASA previously reserved October 2 as a backup launch date, and that’s the target the agency is protecting by deferring a rollback decision to Sunday. If forecasters can give NASA executives confidence that the rocket won’t be buffeted by wind gusts in excess of 74 knots, the SLS booster may be able to weather the weather at the pad and retain the October 2 option.

But if the rocket isn’t off the launch pad by October 4, the end of the current launch phase, it will have to return to the VAB anyway to service batteries in its self-destruct system that are inaccessible from the launch pad.

The Space Force Eastern Range, which oversees all military and civilian launches from Florida, previously extended a battery maintenance waiver to allow launches through the end of the current period, but it’s unknown what options might be available after that.

The next introductory phase starts on October 17th and runs until October 31st.