It will be “difficult” for NASA to make another attempt to launch its massive moon rocket in October, a US space agency official said on Tuesday, with a November launch looking more likely The SLS rocket, the most powerful ever designed by NASA, had to be returned to its storage hangar overnight to was sheltered from the approaching Hurricane Ian. The closest possible launch windows — determined by the position of the Earth and the Moon — are October 17-31, then November 12-27.
“We know the earliest it could be is late October, but more than likely we’ll go to the mid-November window,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. At the press conference, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free was also asked about the rocket’s chances of trying to launch in October. “I don’t think we’re taking anything off the table,” he said. “But it’s going to be hard.
After the hurricane passes, NASA will have to spend time replacing the rocket’s self-destruct system batteries, a complex operation that will be done in a storage hangar. It will also take days to lift the 98-meter-tall (320-foot) rocket and transport it to the launch pad before configuring it for liftoff. The latest setback will therefore significantly delay the launch of the long-awaited Artemis 1 mission.
Two launch attempts have already been aborted at the last minute, in late August and then early September, due to technical problems, including a leak in the rocket’s fuel tanks. Fifty years after the last mission of the Apollo program, Artemis 1 will be used to ensure that the Orion capsule on top of the rocket is safe for future crew transport to the Moon.
Read Now :ocean water accompanies the subducting plates between the Earth’s upper and lower mantle
