On Wednesday, October 12th, the NASA announced a fresh set of potential launch dates for its uncrewed Artemis I mission to circumnavigate the Moon:
- Monday, Nov. 14 with liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft planned during a 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. EST.
- Backup launch date of Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 1:04 a.m with a 2-hour launch window.
- Backup launch date of Saturday, Nov. 19, at 1:45 a.m. also with a 2-hour launch window.
If the November 14th launch goes ahead, it would result in a mission duration of about 25-and-a-half days with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Friday, December 9th.
Following the roll-back of the SLS and Orion capsule to the Vehicle Assembly Building in the run-up to the arrival of Hurricane Ian in late September, NASA carried out inspections and analyses of both last week.
These have confirmed that minimal work is required to prepare the rocket and spacecraft to roll out to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Teams will perform standard maintenance to repair minor damage to the foam and cork on the thermal protection system and recharge or replace batteries on the rocket, several secondary payloads, and the flight termination system.
The agency plans to roll the rocket back to the launch pad as early as Friday, November 4th.
A successful launch will depend on good weather and good behavior from the rocket’s systems.
