It should be a great sight if the Artemis I mission goes as planned.
The liftoff of the SLS rocket is scheduled to take place at just after midnight Eastern Time. There is a 69-minute launch window. It's time to est.
The first mission for the Artemis program has been delayed four times. The Artemis-1 is the first integrated test of the SLS launch vehicle and the capsule. The mission will fly around the moon and return to Earth in a few weeks.
The launch of the moon rocket was scrubbed by a faulty temperature sensor. The second attempt was scrubbed because of a hydrogen leak. After repairs, a fueling test appeared to show that the leak had been fixed. But then, the next launch attempt had to be waved off when Hurricane Ian's uncertain path forced NASA to roll the giant rocket back to safety.
NASA took the opportunity while in the VAB to conduct inspections and analyses, and determined minimal work would be required to prepare the rocket and spacecraft to roll out to Kennedy Space Center. The teams are performing standard maintenance to repair minor damage to the foam and cork on the thermal protection system. The rocket is going to be rolled back to the launch pad.
If the mission launches on November 14, it will allow for a 25.5-day mission before the capsule splashes down in the ocean on December 9.
Back-up night-time launch opportunities will be available on Wednesday and Saturday.
Supporting ground systems and teams will be tested during the flight. If everything goes well, NASA will announce the crew and schedule for a crewed Artemis 2 flight around the Moon, likely in 2024, and the crewed Artemis 3 Moon landing mission would follow, perhaps in the 20th century.
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