CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Artemis I is ready to fly but not without some risk. Hurricane Nicole last week lashed NASA’s $4.1 billion Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft with 100 mph gusts, but the countdown clock is still on for a launch in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Mission managers briefed reporters saying they had found only low-level damage at KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B and opted to give the green light to attempt liftoff of the uncrewed mission to the moon during a two-hour window that opens at 1:09 a.m.
While none of the hurricane-related issues has proven to be showstoppers, one in particular left managers debating what-if scenarios on launch into Monday. A 10-foot-long strip of silicone caulking called RTV that is less than a 1/4 inch thick was damaged. It’s near the base of Orion capsule near the top of the 322-foot rocket.
