3

NASA to roll moon rocket back to hangar, as Hurricane Ian targets Florida

 1 year ago
source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/26/nasa-artemis-rocket-delay-hurricane-ian/
Go to the source link to view the article. You can view the picture content, updated content and better typesetting reading experience. If the link is broken, please click the button below to view the snapshot at that time.

NASA to roll moon rocket back to hangar, as Hurricane Ian targets Florida

The move will further delay the Artemis I mission by several weeks

September 26, 2022 at 10:48 a.m. EDT
nasa-artemis-rocket-delay-hurricane-ian
The Artemis I Orion capsule sits atop the Space Launch System rocket on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 27. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

NASA said Monday it would roll the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft back to its assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center, as Hurricane Ian continued to intensify and threaten Florida.

The decision means that NASA’s Artemis I mission, the first in a series of steps to return astronauts to the moon, will be delayed again — this time for at least several weeks.

NASA had been hoping that Ian would veer west, allowing the space agency to keep the massive rocket on the pad.

But after meeting Monday morning, space agency leaders made the decision “after additional data gathered overnight did not show improving conditions for the Kennedy Space Center area,” NASA said in a statement.

The flight, known as Artemis I, would send the Orion spacecraft, without any astronauts on board, in orbit around the moon. If NASA completes the flight successfully, it would then load Orion with as many as four people past the moon by 2024. A landing could come a year or so after that.

The next launch availability would come in mid- to late October. NASA could also attempt to launch in November.

NASA said it would begin rolling the vehicle back to its assembly building at 11 p.m. Eastern time Monday.

This story will update.

generic-newsletter-signup.png

About Joyk


Aggregate valuable and interesting links.
Joyk means Joy of geeK