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While NASA officials stressed successful a media teleconference contiguous (Nov. 3) that the agency's highly anticipated Artemis 1 satellite ngo volition beryllium challenging, they stated they are assured successful the upcoming motorboat effort connected Nov. 14.
The Artemis 1 ngo stack, consisting of the monolithic Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, is scheduled to erstwhile again rotation retired to Launch Pad 39B from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) astatine Kennedy Space Center (KSC) successful Florida astatine 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) connected Friday (Nov. 4). The SLS stack has been to the pad connected 3 erstwhile occasions, erstwhile each successful March and June for pre-launch fueling tests, and again successful mid-August for two abortive motorboat attempts. The rocket was past rolled backmost into the VAB connected Sept. 27 to ride retired Hurricane Ian, wherever it has been ever since undergoing repairs and pre-flight checks.
Despite these setbacks, NASA officials stressed successful today's media briefing that they basal down the caller ngo timeline, which aims for a motorboat effort astatine 12:07 a.m. EST (0507 GMT) connected Nov. 14. "If we weren't confident, we wouldn't rotation out. If we weren't confident, we wouldn't commencement the countdown erstwhile we bash so. We're assured moving forward," said Jim Free, subordinate head of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate astatine NASA office successful Washington, D.C.
Related: Watch NASA rotation Artemis 1 satellite rocket to motorboat pad aboriginal Friday
Free added that the Artemis 1 ngo has been a situation from the start. "I bash privation to bespeak connected the information that this is simply a challenging mission," Free told reporters. "We've seen challenges conscionable getting each our systems to enactment together. And that's wherefore we bash a formation test. It's astir going aft the things that can't beryllium modeled. And we're learning by taking much risks connected this ngo earlier we enactment unit connected there. And those challenges, you know, travel with this analyzable of a conveyance and wherever we're flying and however we're getting there."
"The bully portion successful each this is our squad continues to turn and larn astir the vehicle," helium added.
While SLS has been successful the VAB for the past 5 weeks, NASA engineers person been replacing SLS formation termination strategy hardware, recharging Orion's batteries, and replacing payload batteries, including the ones successful immoderate of the mission's 10 ridealong cubesats.
"Since rolling backmost to the VAB for Hurricane Ian, the squad has been hard astatine work," said Cliff Lanham, elder conveyance operations manager of the Exploration Ground Systems Program astatine KSC. "The enactment successful the VAB has gone smoothly, and we've been capable to support the rocket from the hurricane, and we've been capable to get into our inspections and marque repairs. "
Lanham added that, with preflight enactment present nearing completion, NASA's teams astatine KSC person begun preparing for Friday's rollout to Launch Pad 39. "We started retracting our platforms. We're really retracting our last level now. And the crawler transporter is present successful the precocious bay underneath the mobile launcher."
Space.com asked NASA officials whether oregon not the erstwhile scrubbed motorboat attempts and the wide media scrutiny that followed has affected the morale of the galore unit moving connected the Artemis 1 mission.
"These are a nonrecreational radical of radical whose archetypal allegiance is to the hardware and doing things right. And erstwhile we springiness you each the discussions similar this, I admit the questions and the quality to benignant of code things similar you conscionable said, the criticisms that are thrown our way," Free told Space.com. "We're spending payer dollars. We should beryllium unfastened to disapproval and answering questions, but it volition ne'er enactment america successful the spot of pushing excessively hard to motorboat excessively accelerated oregon making a atrocious decision."
Lanham added that the team's enthusiasm has ne'er waned contempt the mission's erstwhile setbacks. "We are backmost successful presumption of acceptable to spell and excited down here."
Artemis 1 volition nonstop an uncrewed Orion connected a agelong travel to lunar orbit and back. It's the archetypal ngo successful NASA's Artemis program of satellite exploration, which aims to enactment radical down adjacent the lunar southbound rod successful 2025 oregon 2026 and found a sustainable quality beingness connected and astir the satellite by the extremity of the decade.
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