NASA decides to roll back $4 billion Artemis 1 rocket for protection from Hurricane Ian

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), owing to an approaching tropical storm toward the launch pad, NASA announced on September 26. NASA’s brand new SLS rocket is currently at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which is expected to be hit by Storm Ian in the Caribbean Sea later this week. This decision has been taken based on the weather forecast which predicted heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over Florida. Needless to say, NASA would want to protect the hardware of its rocket whose construction cost inflated to $4 billion. 

The storm has now delayed the Artemis 1 Moon mission, possibly indefinitely, from its scheduled date of September 27. “Managers met Monday morning and made the decision based on the latest weather predictions associated with Hurricane Ian after additional data gathered overnight did not show improving expected conditions for the Kennedy Space Center area”, NASA said in an update. 

Mission teams will start the process of the rocket’s removal from the launch pad to the VAB at 8:30 am IST on September 27. “The time of first motion also is based on the best-predicted conditions for rollback to meet weather criteria for the move”, the agency added. The VAB is where NASA prepares its rockets and spacecraft for orbital missions and is considered the central hub of NASA’s premier multi-user spaceport. 

It is located roughly 5.6 km from Launch Pad 39A and 6.7 km from Launch Pad 39B (this is where the SLS rocket stands) at the Kennedy Space Center. Moving forward, NASA says that the NOAA, the U.S. Space Force, and the National Hurricane Center are closely and continuously monitoring the conditions around the Kennedy area, following which a new launch date would be decided. 

What's next?

Artemis 1 has a backup launch date on October 3 during a 109-minute-long window starting at 12:22 am IST, however, the removal of the rocket from the pad might cause a delay beyond the said date. Meanwhile, NASA has done all that could be done, including fixing the fuel leakage that occurred during the previous launch attempt on September 6. Notably, the launch was initially scheduled on August 29, but it was scrubbed as well due to one of the SLS rocket's engines not keeping the desired temperature before lift-off. Since Hurricane Ian has added to the wait, read all about the Artemis 1 mission here.