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  The Artemis I mission, expected to send an unmanned spacecraft on a test mission around the Moon, is being delayed once again as NASA’s Space Launch System deals with Tropical Storm Nicole, which is now expected to strengthen into a hurricane before hit Florida.  East coast.   

  The space agency had targeted Nov. 14 for the third launch attempt, but is now eyeing Nov. 16, “pending safe conditions for employees to return to work, as well as inspections after the storm passes,” NASA said in a statement on Tuesday night.  .  November 16 will offer a two-hour launch window that opens at 1:04 AM.  ET   

  The rocket, often referred to as SLS, is at its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, which is just north of where the center of the storm is expected to reach, CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller noted.  This will mean the area can expect some of the strongest winds the system will bring.   

  If it is a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph (120 kph), as it is forecast to be, gusts could range between 80 and 90 mph (130 to 145 kph), according to Miller.  This could mean that the rocket will be buffeted by winds higher than the predetermined limits of what the rocket can withstand.  Officials said the SLS is designed to withstand gusts of up to 85 miles per hour (137 km/h).   

  “Additionally, the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, has predicted peak wind gusts early Thursday morning of 86 miles per hour,” Miller added.  “Well, yes, it’s entirely possible that wind gusts will exceed that limit.”   

  The National Hurricane Center’s latest report also gives a 15 percent chance that Cocoa Beach, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the launch site, will experience sustained hurricane-force winds.   

  However, NASA said in its statement that “forecasts predict that the biggest risks to the pad are strong winds that are not expected to overcome the SLS design.”   

  “The rocket is designed to withstand heavy rainfall on the launch pad, and the spacecraft hatches are secured to prevent water ingress,” the statement continued.   

  The space agency decided to launch the SLS rocket to the launch site last week as the storm was still an unidentified system forming off the East Coast.  At the time, officials expected this storm to bring sustained winds of about 25 knots (29 mph) with gusts up to 40 knots (46 mph), which was thought to be well within the predetermined limits of what it can sustain the rocket, according to comments by Mark Burger, a weather launch officer with the US 45th Weather Squadron, at a Nov. 3 NASA news conference.   

  “The National Hurricane Center has just a 30 percent chance of becoming a named storm,” Burger said last Thursday.  “However, having said that, the models are very consistent in the development of some kind of low pressure.”   

  But the storm developed into a named system on Monday, three days after the missile was launched from the launch site.   

  The strength of the storm is unusual, as Nicole is expected to be the first hurricane to hit the United States in November in nearly 40 years.   

  To prepare for the storm, NASA said its teams destroyed the Orion spacecraft, which sits atop the SLS rocket, as well as the rocket’s side boosters and other components.   

  “Engineers have also installed a hard cover over the launch abort system window, retracted and secured the crew access arm to the mobile launcher, and configured the settings for the environmental control system on the spacecraft and rocket components,” according to the statement .  “Teams are also securing nearby equipment and conducting walkthroughs for possible debris in the area.”   

  The Kennedy Space Center announced on its Twitter feed Tuesday that it is “in HURICON III status and continues to prepare for the coming storm by taking prudent precautions across all our programs, operations and workforce in advance of the storm.”   

  HURICON III’s preparations include “securing facilities, property and equipment,” as well as deploying a rideout team, which is personnel that will be on site to assess any damage.   

  The SLS rocket had been stored for weeks after problems with fuel leaks prevented the first two launch attempts, and then Hurricane Ian swept through Florida, forcing the rocket to evacuate the launch site in September.   

  NASA officials returned the rocket to the launch site last week with the goal of working toward a third launch attempt on Nov. 14.  It’s unclear how or if the storm could affect those plans.   

  The overall goal of NASA’s Artemis program is to return humans to the moon for the first time in half a century.  And the Artemis I mission — expected to be the first of many — will lay the groundwork, testing the rocket and spacecraft and all their subsystems to ensure they’re safe enough for astronauts to fly to the Moon and back.