Is this the end of the curse? Postponed no less than four times due to technical problems and a hurricane, the take-off of the SLS rocket and the Orion shuttle, which is to kick off the Artemis I lunar mission, is maintained on November 16. , confirmed NASA on its website.
minor damage
The passage of Hurricane Nicole over Florida had prompted the American space agency to once again postpone its launch, scheduled for Monday, November 14. “In the aftermath of Hurricane Nicole, teams conducted extensive assessments of the rocket, spacecraft, and associated ground systems and confirmed that there were no significant impacts due in bad weather”says NASA.
The agency had left the SLS on its firing line during the hurricane when Florida recorded winds reaching 120 km / h at the end of last week. Designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, the rocket is indeed capable of withstanding gusts of up to 130 km/h and suffered only slight damage.
120 minutes to soar to the Moon
The new 120-minute shooting window will open this Wednesday, November 16 at 1:04 a.m. local time (7:04 a.m. in France). In the event of a problem, NASA still plans other slots, in particular on November 19.
As a reminder, the Artemis I mission aims to place the Orion spacecraft in orbit around our natural satellite, then to return it safely to Earth. This first unmanned flight will be followed by the Artemis II and III missions, which are supposed to mark (if all goes well) the great return of Man to the Moon.