For the third time, NASA is counting down to the first launch of its Space Launch System rocket for an uncrewed round-the-moon mission that’s meant to blaze a trail for future Artemis lunar landings.
Liftoff from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is set for 1:04 a.m. ET Nov. 16 (10:04 p.m. PT Nov. 15). The 322-foot-tall, 5.5 million-pound SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built for NASA, outdoing the Saturn V.
Forecasters said there was an 80% chance of acceptable weather during tonight’s two-hour launch window.
At one point during the countdown, NASA detected hydrogen leaking from a valve inside the rocket’s mobile launcher, and sent a three-person “red team” to the pad to troubleshoot the problem. The red team tightened down several bolts, fixing the problem, and NASA resumed its fuel replenishment process. Mission managers also had to deal with a problem at one of the radar sites monitoring the range.
If this Artemis 1 mission goes according to plan, the SLS rocket will send an Orion capsule on a weeks-long, looping trip that comes as near as 60 miles to the lunar surface but also ranges 40,000 miles beyond the moon’s orbit.
Instead of living, breathing astronauts, the capsule’s seats will be filled by three sensor-laden mannequins that will register what kind of ride future crews might experience. There’ll also be a modified version of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant on board. Amazon collaborated with Lockheed Martin and Cisco to create the AI agent, which is known as Callisto and could serve as an information resource during future missions to the moon and Mars.
NASA is providing live streaming coverage of the countdown and launch.
Artemis 1 was initially scheduled for liftoff in August, but problems encountered during fueling spoiled the first attempt. Days later, the second attempt was scrubbed because of a pesky hydrogen leak. Since then, plans for a third attempt have been delayed by lingering technical concerns as well as worries about the weather — including two hurricanes that swept over Florida’s Space Coast.
The SLS was rolled back to safety in its Vehicle Assembly Building for Hurricane Ian in September. But after weighing the risks, NASA opted to leave the rocket on the launch pad last week when Hurricane Nicole passed through.
Some of the caulking on a seam in the area around the Orion capsule came loose in the storm, and one of the components on an electrical connector sustained damage. After a round of inspections, mission managers decided they could safely proceed with launch nevertheless.
“Designing for this environment is challenging, and our design stood up to the test of the storm,” Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator for exploration systems development, said in a pre-launch tweet.
Artemis 1 marks the start of a spaceflight that’s been more than a decade and billions of dollars in the making. The current plan calls for a 25-day mission, ending on Dec. 11 with a Pacific Ocean splashdown.
If this uncrewed mission is successful, that would set the stage for a crewed round-the-moon mission known as Artemis 2 in 2024 or so. NASA plans to have Artemis 3’s astronauts touch down on the lunar surface in the 2025, although that date is almost certain to slip. Whenever it happens, Artemis 3 would mark the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972 that humans set foot on the moon — and would potentially set the stage for trips to Mars in the 2030s.