NASA has announced that it will not launch Artemis 1, the mission to send an uncrewed spacecraft into lunar orbit, on September 27 as previously planned due to Hurricane Ian.
The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft duo for the Artemis 1 Moon mission. (Photo: NASA)
Tropical Storm Ian Strengthens into a hurricane in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean on September 23, and it is expected to continue gaining strength. Ian is moving northward, and most models predict that the storm will make landfall in Florida around the middle of next week, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The duo of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) for the Artemis 1 mission is currently on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. To avoid exposing this billion-dollar duo to hurricane conditions, NASA may bring them back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center.
“In a meeting on Saturday morning (September 24), teams decided to halt preparations for the launch on Tuesday (September 27) to consider bringing the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the VAB,” NASA experts stated in an update on September 24. Engineers will gather and analyze additional data, and a final decision will be made on September 25.
If NASA decides to keep Artemis 1 on the launch pad, the mission could still launch on the backup date of October 2. However, if the rocket and spacecraft must return to the VAB, it is almost certain that the mission will not launch on that day.
Artemis 1 is the first mission in NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by the late 2020s. In the Artemis 1 mission, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will fly to lunar orbit and then return to Earth. If all goes well, the next mission—Artemis 2—will carry a crew around the Moon in 2024. Subsequently, Artemis 3 will land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole in 2025 or 2026.
The rocket and spacecraft duo for Artemis 1 has been on launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center since mid-August. Initially, NASA planned to launch on August 29 and September 4, but both attempts faced technical issues.
