Watch NASA try again to launch the Artemis 1 lunar mission after months of delays

It's motorboat time for NASA, again.

The abstraction bureau is aiming to motorboat its Artemis I satellite ngo successful the aboriginal hours of Wednesday morning, aft method issues delayed erstwhile attempts implicit the past 3 months.

The agency's towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule are scheduled to assistance disconnected during a two-hour motorboat model that opens astatine 1:04 a.m. ET. If successful, the Artemis I ngo would past 26 days successful full earlier Orion returns to Earth.

The uncrewed motorboat marks the debut of the astir almighty rocket ever assembled and kicks disconnected NASA's long-awaited instrumentality to the moon's surface. It's the archetypal ngo successful NASA's Artemis lunar program, which the bureau hopes volition pb to landing astronauts connected the satellite by its 3rd ngo successful 2025.

While Artemis I volition not transportation astronauts, nor onshore connected the moon, the ngo is captious to demonstrating that NASA's monster rocket and heavy abstraction capsule tin present connected their promised abilities.

Artemis I is 5 years down docket and billions of dollars implicit budget. More than $40 cardinal has already been spent connected the program, overmuch of that toward SLS and Orion's development. The strategy comes with a per-launch terms tag of $4.1 billion.

NASA archetypal tried to motorboat Artemis I successful August but has called disconnected aggregate attempts since past aft discovering technical problems with the rocket's engines.

In September the bureau rolled the rocket backmost into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for extortion from Hurricane Ian, returning the conveyance to the LC-39B launchpad connected Nov. 3.

NASA past week near SLS and Orion retired connected the launchpad to upwind the winds of Hurricane Nicole.

NASA said it checked the rocket and spacecraft aft the tempest passed and recovered nary large harm to the vehicle. It said a 10-foot conception of insulation adjacent the Orion capsule had pulled distant owed to the precocious winds – but NASA decided to proceed with Wednesday's motorboat effort aft an investigation showed it is not expected to origin immoderate important harm if the insulation falls disconnected during the launch.

If needed, NASA has a back-up motorboat day scheduled for Nov. 19.