Nov. 15 (UPI) — Artemis I is scheduled to launch early Wednesday morning after inspectors determined damage from Hurricane Nicole was minimal.
The countdown to launch began on Monday 1:54 a.m. and, barring any further issues, will go ahead normally during a two-hour window begging at 1:04 a.m. on Wednesday.
All elements of the rocket and spacecraft are powered up on the launch pad. Teams will change the flight batteries and conduct final walkthroughs overnight.
Live coverage of launch preparations will begin on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. EST on NASA TV.
NASA announced on Friday that they would go ahead with the launch, “there’s nothing preventing us from getting to the 16th,” said Jim Free, an associate administrator, during a press conference.
“Engineers examined detailed analysis of caulk on a seam between an ogive on Orion’s launch abort system and the crew module adapter and potential risks if it were to detach during launch. The mission management team determined there is a low likelihood that that if additional material tears off it would pose a critical risk to flight,” reads a press statement from NASA on Monday.
Technicians also replaced a component of an electrical connector on a hydrogen tail service mast umbilical.
“While swapping the component did not fully fix the issue, engineers have redundant sources of information supplied through the connector,” read the statement.
Though the Artemis I mission will travel to the moon without a crew, the goal of the program is to return humans to lunar orbit.
The Orion rocket, which will launch Artemis I, is designed to withstand heavy rain and winds of up to 85 mph. Peak winds reached 81 mph at 60 feet, but lighting tower sensors detected winds as high as 100m mph 457 feet about the ground.
The Artemis mission has faced several previous delays due to weather and a launch attempt in August was scrubbed after problems with the temperature of the hydrogen fuel on engine number three on the SLS’ core stage, which is the large orange tank that has four main engines.
