A hurricane forces NASA’s lunar rocket to be returned to the hangar

Sep. 26 () –

The debut of NASA’s lunar rocket with the Artemis I mission keeps lagging. In this case, Hurricane Ian has forced it back to the hangar from the launch pad.

Following the postponement of the launch of the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft on August 29, due to motorcycle problemsres, and due to a leak in the fuel supply to the rocket on September 3, the new scheduled date was this monday september 26, once the incident has been resolved.

However, the mission managers met this Monday morning and made the decision to withdraw the rocket based on the latest weather forecasts associated with Hurricane Ian, “after additional data collected overnight showed no improvement in conditions expected for the Kennedy Space Center area,” reports NASA.

The decision to return the Artemis I mission to the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) gives time to protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system. The current release schedule provides for a pre-order date of October 2. The unmanned Artemis I mission will last 42 days on a round trip to lunar orbit, in preparation for subsequent manned missions, with the ultimate goal of putting astronauts back on the lunar surface by 2025.