NASA on Monday launched its plan to send an unmanned space capsule into lunar orbit, marking the first launch in an ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development.
The space capsule, called Artemis I, will travel for about 40 days — coming within 60 miles of the moon and then 40,000 miles above the moon as it orbits its dark side — before landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast from San Diego.
Artemis will not launch Friday due to weather, NASA says
NASA officials said the new Artemis I launch date, originally scheduled for Friday, had to be pushed back due to bad weather. The weather seems 60% not good for Friday, but it looks like it will be more favourable on Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to Saturday, the weather is going to be a little different than what we experienced yesterday,” Mark Berger, a weather officer with the US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron, said during a media briefing Tuesday. “We’re going to have a fairly strong onshore flow, so that supports showers and maybe a few storms moving in from the coast during the morning and early afternoon.”
The launch window on Saturday starts at 14:17. ET and ends at 4:17 p.m. E.T. If necessary, the launch can also be pushed back to Monday.
