NASA gives Artemis I moonshot OK to go

NASA officials on Friday inspected the Artemis I rocket and spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center after Hurricane Nicole and are OK to go for Wednesday’s early-morning launch attempt.

The Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule remained at Launch Pad 39-B during the storm, with officials opting to rely on the craft’s capacity to endure sustained winds of 85 mph at 60 feet.

While the launch pad did see at least one 100 mph gust at the pad near the top of the 321-foot-tall rocket, sustained winds remained under the thresholds, said James Free, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development during a press conference Friday.

“During the event, the hurricane, all the measurements taken show no breaking of those limits,” he said.

The $4.1 billion rocket and capsule will move toward an attempt during a two-hour launch window that opens at 1:04 a.m. Wednesday, but also could shoot for a backup two-hour launch window on Saturday, Nov. 19 that opens at 1:45 a.m. If it launches on Wednesday, the Orion capsule would return for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11.

“There’s nothing preventing us from getting to the 16th,” Free said, although he noted some small issues, such as water in the crew access arm that can be taken care of before the attempt.

Artemis I is an uncrewed flight that will launch the Orion capsule atop the SLS rocket that will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust on liftoff, which would make it the most powerful rocket to ever launch from Earth.

Orion will then spend several weeks orbiting the moon, heading farther out than and return to Earth faster than any other previous human-rated spacecraft, with re-entry speeds near 24,500 mph generating temperatures around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

If all goes well, NASA can move forward with the crewed Artemis II flight set for no earlier than May 2024, which will also orbit the moon. That would then pave the way for Artemis III, which looks to return humans, including the first woman, to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

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CHRIS O’MEARA/AP NASA’s new moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B on Fridayin Cape Canaveral. NASA will go ahead with Wednesday’s launch attempt.