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| Photo Credit: AP. |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is skipping next week’s launch attempt of its new moon rocket because of a tropical storm that’s expected to become a major hurricane.
It’s the
third delay in the past month for the lunar-orbiting test flight featuring
mannequins but no astronauts, a follow-up to NASA’s Apollo moon-landing program
of a half-century ago. Hydrogen fuel leaks and other technical issues caused
the previous scrubs.
Currently
churning in the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ian is expected to become a hurricane
by Monday and slam into Florida’s Gulf coast by Thursday. The entire state, however,
is in the cone showing the probable path of the storm’s center — including
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Given the
forecast uncertainties, NASA decided Saturday to forgo Tuesday’s planned launch
attempt and instead prepare the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket for a possible
return to its hangar. Managers will decide Sunday whether to haul it off the
launch pad.
If the
rocket remains at the pad, NASA could try for an Oct. 2 launch attempt, the
last opportunity before a two-week blackout period. But a rollback late Sunday
or early Monday likely would mean a lengthy delay for the test flight, possibly
pushing it into November.
The Space
Launch System rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA. Assuming its
first test flight goes well, astronauts would climb aboard for the next mission
in 2024, leading to a two-person moon landing in 2025.
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