The space agency rescheduled the next Artemis I rocket launch attempt for Saturday, September 3rd, after deciding that the planned plan for Friday would be hampered by inclement weather.
According to authorities, there was a 60% probability that the launch would have been postponed due to weather on Friday. At 2:17 PM, the two-hour launch window will begin.
This will be NASA’s second attempt to launch its enormous next-generation rockets this week. The first launch attempt on Monday was cancelled when one of the four RS-25 engines failed to achieve the required temperature for liftoff.
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion crew capsule atop, is the centrepiece of the Artemis I mission. If the launch goes well, SLS will lift the uncrewed Orion to an altitude of just under 4,000 kilometres before the two vessels separate and the core stage of the rocket falls back to Earth.
Orion will go to the Moon and circle there for six days before returning to Earth. The capsule is set to land in the ocean on October 11th.
If all goes as planned, it will mark the beginning of NASA’s Artemis mission to return to the Moon, which has been beset by years of delays, development hiccups, and billions of dollars in budget overruns.
