According to agency officials, the Artemis 1 moon rocket is in good shape and will be launched next week.
The Space Coast of Florida was lashed by strong winds and rain on Thursday as a Category 1 Hurricane. In the open at Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Artemis 1 stack survived the storm.
NASA officials said that post-storm inspections have shown only minor damage that shouldn't prevent an on-time liftoff.
Jim Free, associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, said during a press conference that there was nothing preventing them from reaching the 16th. The liftoff is expected to take place at 1:04 a.m. The time is 0604GMT.
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Nicole pried loose some caulking on Orion, sent some water into the arm that allows access to the capsule from the Artemis 1 launch tower, and tore one of the SLS engines' raincovers.
The mission team is working through the minor problems and expects to clear them in time for the liftoff, he said.
It's not to say that Artemis 1 will get off the ground that day, but other boxes must be checked as well.
On Friday, the mission team planned to power up both the SLS and Orion, as well as perform program-specific engineering tests on mission hardware after that. Delays could be caused by any hiccup in those procedures.
Artemis 1 has been delayed before. The liftoff was pushed back a month because of technical problems.
After Hurricane Ian hit the Space Coast, the team rolled Artemis 1 off Pad 39B and returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The mission team members took the time to perform upgrade and maintenance work on SLS and Orion. After rolling Artemis 1 back out to the pads, Nicole boiled up in the ocean.
The storm wasn't expected to have much of a problem for SLS. Nicole set the Space Coast in motion.
The planned Artemis 1 liftoff was delayed by two days. It was too late to return Artemis 1 to the VAB.
When we roll, we weren't going to have the favorable winds that we wanted.
The models and forecasts suggested that SLS would be able to handle the strain that Nicole caused, and team members didn't think this decision put Artemis 1 in serious jeopardy. The case turned out to be correct.
NASA officials have said that SLS is certified to be able to handle peak wind gusts of up to 85 mph. The wind speed at that altitude was over 100 mph.
The winds were more powerful on Thursday, but they didn't exceed the design limits.
NASA wants to establish a permanent human presence on and around the moon by the end of the decade. The shakeout cruise will demonstrate the readiness of the capsule and SLS for crewed missions.
At 1:04 a.m., the launch window opens. The last time it happened was two hours ago. There are backup opportunities if Artemis 1 can't get off the ground.
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