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After Ian caused the latest delay for the moon mission, NASA puts a November takeoff on the calendar:
NASA's Artemis I moon mission launch, stalled by Hurricane Ian, has a new target for takeoff. The launch window for step one of NASA's bold plan to return humans to the lunar surface now opens Nov. 12 and closes Nov. 27, the space agency said Friday.
[...] The hurricane made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, bringing with it a catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding that left dozens of people dead, caused widespread power outages and ripped buildings from their foundations. Hurricane Ian is "likely to rank among the worst in the nation's history," US President Joe Biden said on Friday, adding that it will take "months, years, to rebuild."
Initial inspections Friday to assess potential impacts of the devastating storm to Artemis I flight hardware showed no damage, NASA said. "Facilities are in good shape with only minor water intrusion identified in a few locations," the agency said in a statement.
Next up, teams will complete post-storm recovery operations, which will include further inspections and retests of the flight termination system before a more specific launch date can be set. The new November launch window, NASA said, will also give Kennedy employees time to address what their families and homes need post-storm.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday October 04 2022, @06:02AM
Honestly I'm torn.
We have indeed invested a huge amount of money in the thing, and it would be good to have a backup for heavy lift missions if (when) Starship development is delayed. We want the people planning missions today to be confident that *something* will be available with super heavy lift capacity when the time comes to launch after years of enormous development expense. Having to pay $1-2B to launch would suck, but not nearly as much as having to postpone the launch of your completed space station module or prototype asteroid mining rig for who knows how long because nobody has a big enough rocket at any price.
On the other hand, the SLS is such a pork project that it'll be hard to get rid of no matter how clearly second-rate a choice it is. Having the launch end in a catastrophic fireball and yet more interminable delays would make it that much harder to argue for continuing to throw good money after bad.