NASA looks to launch Artemis lunar test flight again on Nov. 14

Reuters

16:40 JST, October 19, 2022

NASA has targeted Nov. 14 for a third attempt to launch its big, next-generation rocketship, the U.S. space agency said on Oct. 12, after weeks of technical setbacks and foul weather delayed the uncrewed inaugural Artemis mission to the moon.

Plans call for rolling the 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion capsule back out to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., as early as Friday, Nov. 4 to renew final flight preparations.

Safety regulations and deteriorating weather conditions spawned by Hurricane Ian had forced the space agency to return the towering rocketship to its hangar last month following two aborted launch attempts, on Aug. 29 and Sept. 3.

Standard maintenance still to be done at the pad includes repairing minor damage to insulation materials, and recharging or replacing batteries on the rocket, and on its satellite payloads and flight-termination system, NASA said in a statement announcing the new launch date.

NASA officials have previously said that a hydrogen fuel leak that forced them to scrub the last countdown three hours before liftoff has since been resolved.