NASA calls off Artemis 1 moon rocket launch on Sept. 27 due to Tropical Storm Ian

After further consideration, NASA has decided not to attempt to thread the weather needle with its Artemis 1 lunar mission.

The launch of Artemis 1 from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), located in Florida along the Atlantic coast, was scheduled to take place on Tuesday, September 27th, according to the space agency. This was still the plan as late as last Friday (September 23), but NASA officials emphasized that they were keeping a careful watch on a storm that was developing in the Caribbean and was given the name Tropical Depression 9.

Late on Friday, Tropical Depression 9 became Tropical Storm Ian, and it is anticipated that Ian will continue to strengthen over the next several days. According to the National Hurricane Center, it is headed in a northern direction, and the majority of computer models agree that it will make landfall in Florida as a full-fledged hurricane by the middle of the next week.

NASA certainly does not want the multibillion-dollar Artemis 1 stack, which consists of a Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket topped with an Orion space capsule, to be out on the pad in hurricane-force winds, so it is getting the wheels turning on a possible rollback to the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center (VAB). Because of the necessary preparation, we can no longer launch on September 27.

"During a meeting Saturday morning, teams decided to stand down on preparing for the Tuesday launch date," NASA officials wrote in an update this morning (opens in a new tab). "This will allow them to configure systems for rolling back the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building," the officials explained. "The launch is currently scheduled for Tuesday" (Sept. 24). In order to allow for the collection and examination of further data, the engineers have decided to postpone making a final decision regarding the roll until Sunday, September 25.

Even if the crew chooses to retain Artemis 1 on the launch pad, there is a chance that the mission will still be able to meet the backup launch date of October 2. The reversion to the vast VAB, on the other hand, would very probably exclude that day from consideration as well.

The goal of the Artemis program, which is part of NASA's Artemis initiative, is to create a permanent human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s. Artemis 1 is the first mission in the Artemis program. Orion will be sent on an uncrewed mission to lunar orbit and return by the Artemis 1 spacecraft. If all goes according to plan with the mission, Artemis 2 would send people on a circumlunar mission around the moon in 2024, and Artemis 3 will land humans near the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026.

Since the middle of August, the stack for Artemis 1 has been waiting at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA had planned to launch the mission on August 29 and September 3, but both of those attempts were unsuccessful due to technical difficulties.

The problem that occurred on September 3 was a leak of liquid hydrogen fuel at a contact between the SLS core stage and the movable launch tower of the rocket. The issue was resolved by the mission crew when they replaced two seals in the region that was impacted. On Wednesday, there was a long fuelling test on the pad, and it was during this test that the efficacy of that repair was shown (Sept. 21).