If the rocket — originally scheduled for launch in late August — takes off as planned, it will cap more than two months of delays caused by technical glitches and uncooperative weather. It will also mark the culmination of nearly a decade of development and launch the first of many planned Artemis missions, aimed at sending humans back to the moon and eventually beyond. “We’re going to give it our best shot on Wednesday, and we’re ready to do that,” Mike Sarafin, mission manager for Artemis at NASA, said at a news conference Monday. “Hopefully all systems align, weather aligns and range.” Named after the twin sister of the god Apollo in Greek mythology, the Artemis program is NASA’s ambitious effort to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon as early as 2025. Two of the program’s main components include the Space Launch System, built by Boeing Co., and a new crew capsule called Orion, built by Lockheed Martin Corp. The rocket and capsule are designed to carry future astronauts and cargo to the lunar region. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is tasked with providing a landing system to bring astronauts to the lunar surface. NASA hasn’t used its own crewed rocket since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. For the past decade, the agency has had to rely on Russia’s Soyuz rocket to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, and in 2020, its new rocket SpaceX’s deployed Dragon crew capsule has begun ferrying passengers to and from the space station. But SLS is under the control of NASA and is intended to carry people far beyond low Earth orbit. It’s been a long road to get to this moment. In the works since 2011, SLS has had constant schedule delays and cost overruns. NASA had originally projected the launch of the rocket as early as 2017, with a total development cost of $7 billion. Now five years after its target launch date, SLS development stands at about $23.8 billion, according to the Planetary Society. NASA’s Inspector General estimates that the first four missions of the Artemis program, including Artemis I, will each cost about $4.1 billion. Before the rocket and capsule can carry people, NASA must demonstrate that these vehicles can function as designed. So the agency is sending the uncrewed craft on a 25-day test flight around the moon and back to Earth. “You don’t put people on top until you think it’s safe,” said Bill Nelson, NASA administrator. “So it’s a critical test.” During the mission, Orion will come within 60 miles of the Moon’s surface before traveling farther into space than any human-built vehicle. It is scheduled to launch into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on December 11. Takeoff is scheduled for 1:04 AM. Florida time from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, although the launch could happen at any time within a two-hour window. For the last few months we have been trying for NASA. The agency was ready to launch the vehicle on August 29. But as engineers tried to fill the rocket with fuel, a hydrogen leak and a problem with a temperature sensor in one of the main engines prompted NASA to halt the countdown and push the launch to later that week. A second attempt on September 3 was also aborted. A persistent hydrogen leak reappeared during propellant loading, forcing NASA to cancel the countdown. After that attempt, NASA officials revealed that they had to replace the damaged hardware in the vehicle before they could try to launch again. The company then opted to perform a power test after the parts were replaced to validate the repairs. Despite more hydrogen leaks occurring during the test, NASA deemed the process a success in late September. Soon after, NASA planned a third launch attempt, but Hurricane Ian forced the agency to roll the rocket back into its hangar to ride out the storm. After further maintenance and upgrades, the rocket returned to its launch site, but this time just ahead of another storm that developed into Hurricane Nicole. NASA chose to leave the rocket outside on the launch pad, where it weathered the storm, with wind gusts peaking at 100 miles (161 kilometers) per hour. Despite exposure to the storm, the rocket sustained only minor damage that NASA said would not affect the launch. “I would say we’re comfortable flying as it is,” Sarafin said. ©2022 Bloomberg LP
