The launch of Artemis 1 — which will use a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, aided by two boosters, to send an Orion capsule to the moon — has been delayed once again, this time until Wednesday (November 16) due to the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Nicole on Florida’s Space Coast. Satellite imagery shows Nicole right now overlooking the Atlantic Ocean next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), generating wind speeds of up to 70 mph (110 km/h) as it closes in on the center’s Launch Pad 39B, home to the Artemis 1 stack, poised to ride out the storm. Now that the Artemis 1 moon mission has been delayed once again, there are concerns that some of its hardware may expire before launch. For example, several key deadlines are looming on the mission’s two solid rocket boosters, built by Northrop Grumman. If Artemis 1 has not launched by mid-December, NASA will have to analyze the boosters to see if they are still worthy of launch beyond their current expiration dates. During a Nov. 3 media briefing, NASA officials told reporters that several components of the SLS vehicle’s boosters are nearing their current expiration dates, based on the latest analyzes by team members. Cliff Lanham, senior manager of vehicle operations for the Exploration Ground Systems Program at KSC, told reporters that the countdown begins as soon as a rocket is loaded. This countdown is currently running for the Artemis 1 vehicle. “When you stack your first section on the back section, you start a clock that was originally 12 months,” Lanhan said. “Right now it’s broken down to 23 months, and that’s expiring. One piece is expiring on December 9th of this year and the other is on December 14th of this year.” Another environmental exposure assessment is due on December 15, he added. If Artemis 1 has not been launched by those dates, the mission team will need to conduct further analysis to determine whether the expiration dates on the rocket’s various components could be extended, said Jim Free, associate administrator for the Systems Development Mission Directorate. Exploration at NASA headquarters in Washington “Each of these has a different review date — that’s my term — when we have to go back and redo the analysis and look at the assumptions in the analysis. And it’s really more a function of when we feel those assumptions are no longer good and boosters fall into that category,” Free said during the Nov. 3 media briefing. “I think I would be doing our team and you guys a disservice by saying we can just go forever, because I don’t think it’s so. I think we look at the resolution each time with a different set of lenses and think about what else could have changed.” NASA is currently considering a two-hour window for the Artemis 1 launch that opens at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT) on Wednesday (November 16). If successful, the launch will send an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back. The launch will be the first mission of the Artemis program that will see humans return to the Moon near the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026, with the ultimate goal of establishing a permanent base on the moon. Follow Brett on Twitter at @brettingley (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or enabled Facebook (opens in a new tab).
