NASA targets November 14 launch date for Artemis 1 mission

NASA plans to launch the Artemis 1 on November 14 and has also requested backup launch opportunities for November 16 and November 19. Here is what you need to know about the mission's launch.

NASA artemis 1 rocket and spacecraft at night

NASA Artemis 1: The mission will launch from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre. This image of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft was taken on September 26, 2022. (Image credit; NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA announced that it will make its next attempt at launching the Artemis 1 mission on Monday, November 14. The space agency plans to launch the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft during a 69-minute launch window that starts at 12.07 AM EST (9.37 AM IST) on that day. The spacecraft will go around the Moon and back to Earth for the first in a series of missions designed to send humanity back to Earth’s lone natural satellite.

According to NASA, inspections and analyses done over the previous week confirm that minimal work is required to prepare the rocket and spacecraft to roll it back onto Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The space agency rolled back the Artemis 1 stack on September 27 to protect it from Hurricane Ian.

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NASA had to abandon the previous two launch attempts of the Artemis 1 mission after it ran into multiple issues. The first launch attempt on August 29 had to be scrubbed because of an issue with one of the four RS-25 engines that are part of the SLS rocket’s core stage. The second launch attempt had to be scrubbed because of a liquid hydrogen leak while the space agency was fuelling the SLS rocket.

Hydrogen leaks sprung up again during NASA’s last fuelling demonstration of the Artemis 1 mission on September 21 but engineers managed to bring it under control. After hours of issues and delays, team engineers were finally able to load nearly 5 million litres of fuel into the rocket.

The space agency has also requested backup launch opportunities for 1.04 AM EST (10.34 AM IST) on Wednesday, November 16 and 1.45 AM EST (11.15 AM IST) on Saturday, November 19. Both of these launch windows are two hours long. But if the mission were to launch on November 14, it would last for little more than 25 days for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, December 9.

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NASA Artemis