NASA’s Megarocket Rolls Back to Launch Pad, With Blastoff Just 10 Days Away

The towering Space Launch System is again at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following a nine-hour trek from the close by Vehicle Assembly Building. The company is concentrating on November 14 for the rocket’s first launch, an occasion that can kick off the Artemis 1 mission and NASA’s return to the Moon.

Could this be it? Might this lastly be the final time NASA has to cart the 321-foot-tall (98-meter) SLS rocket to the launch pad? I’m obsessively toggling between optimism and pessimism, as there’s good cause for each.

The launch try on November 14 can be NASA’s third attempt at getting the rocket off the bottom, so it’s had loads of observe at this level. But as we noticed throughout these makes an attempt and in addition throughout the moist costume rehearsals, SLS is a bit finicky, significantly relating to the loading of its liquid hydrogen propellant.

For this mission, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft will journey to the Moon and return to Earth three-and-a-half weeks later, with out performing a lunar touchdown. The goal of the Artemis 1 mission is to check the highly effective new rocket and the Orion capsule, setting the stage for the crewed Artemis 2 mission in 2024.

NASA tried to launch SLS on August 29, however a defective sensor pressured a scrub. The second scrub on September 3 was the results of a hydrogen leak, prompting an impromptu cryogenic tanking take a look at that the company efficiently carried out on September 22. NASA was set to launch the rocket on September 27, however Hurricane Ian despatched SLS again to the Vehicle Assembly Building for shelter.

Ground groups used the chance to recharge batteries related to the rocket’s flight termination system, the booster, Orion, and batteries belonging to the secondary payload cubesats, Cliff Lanham, senior automobile operations supervisor for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, advised reporters Thursday at a press briefing. Some {hardware} was changed and checks of the flight termination system have been additionally completed, he added, saying no excellent points stay open and that the rocket is able to go.

A storm brewing within the Atlantic has captured the eye of Mark Berger, climate officer of the U.S. Space Force’s forty fifth Weather Squadron. The low stress system, ought to it grow to be one thing greater, would probably have an effect on Kennedy Space Center on the center of subsequent week, he defined throughout the briefing. That mentioned, Berger doesn’t anticipate the winds to pose an issue for SLS, and he’s not significantly involved.

Should all go based on plan, the countdown for the third SLS launch try will start simply earlier than 1:00 a.m. ET on November 12, and the rocket would blast off throughout a 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. ET on November 14. At the press briefing, Jim Free, affiliate administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, mentioned “everyone’s comfortable launching at night” and that he doesn’t see the darkness “as a barrier to getting the data that we need.”

That’s good, however it’s a disgrace that the rocket received’t go up throughout daytime, or at the least for this launch try. NASA has to think about a wide range of factors when figuring out launch home windows, together with the place of Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. Regardless, we received’t complain after we lastly get to see SLS take flight—one thing that may truly occur in simply 10 days.

More: NASA’s Artemis Moon Landing Program: Launches, Timeline, and More