NASA will roll back Artemis-1 off its launch pad at Kennedy Space Center tonight, to protect the vehicle from Hurricane Ian.
First motion off the launch pad will start around 11:00pm EDT. It will take about 8-10 hours to arrive in the Vehicle Assembly Building a few miles away.
NASA was aiming for a launch attempt on Sep 27, after repairing a hydrogen leak that scrubbed the previous launch attempt on Sep 3. The decision to roll the rocket back was not made lightly, and comes after days of monitoring, discussion and preparations just in case.
NASA was hopeful that the hurricane’s track would trend west, away from the Florida peninsula. But that has not happened. The trends have instead been tracking east. The east-side of a hurricane is where a lot of the storm’s energy is, packing squall lines and tornados.
Risk is too great to keep craft on the launchpad
Additionally, NASA does not want to risk Ian possibly turning east more than the National Hurricane Center expects. It has happened before. That would bring hurricane force winds across all of Central Florida, including Kennedy.
“The decision allows time for employees to address the needs of their families and protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system, said NASA in a blog post today. “The time of first motion also is based on the best predicted conditions for rollback to meet weather criteria for the move.”
Next opportunities to launch would be late Oct into Nov.
Millions of people on the west coast of Florida, however, have a lot more to worry about. Ian will bring a major storm surge into Tampa Bay, whether it makes landfall there or not. Storm surge and flooding account for almost 90% of fatalities in a hurricane.
NOAA and USAF Hurricane Hunters are also hard at work, flying into the storm day and night to collect data and measurements that feed the NHC forecasts.
Voluntary evacuations are already underway around Tampa. Mandatory evacuations will soon follow for areas close to water.
All 67 counties in Florida are under a State of Emergency. President Biden has approved Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s request for an emergency declaration too, which authorizes FEMA to support Florida’s response efforts ahead of Ian. 2,500 National Guard members have called up to duty as well.
