Hurricane Ian pushes Artemis 1 moon launch to mid-November

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Hurricane Ian took an October liftoff off the table.

Artemis 1 rollback
NASA's Artemis 1 rocket arrives at Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building on Sept. 27, 2022 to shelter from Hurricane Ian. (Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA's historic Artemis 1 moon mission will now lift off in mid-November, if all goes according to plan.

The space agency had aimed to launch the uncrewed Artemis 1 on Tuesday (Sept. 27), but Hurricane Ian nixed that plan. The powerful storm forced NASA to roll Artemis 1 off Pad 39B at Florida's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and back into the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) early this week.

Ian hit KSC on Thursday (Sept. 29) as a tropical storm, and the sprawling center seems to have weathered the maelstrom well. The facility experienced just minor water intrusion in a few areas, and the Artemis 1 stack — a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket topped with an Orion capsule — suffered no damage, NASA officials said in an update on Friday afternoon (Sept. 30). 

Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission

The storm did affect the timing of Artemis 1, however: NASA is now eyeing a liftoff between Nov. 12 and Nov. 27, though they have not yet identified a target date within that window.

"Focusing efforts on the November launch period allows time for employees at Kennedy to address the needs of their families and homes after the storm and for teams to identify additional checkouts needed before returning to the pad for launch," NASA officials wrote in Friday's update.

Some of the work at the VAB will involve Artemis 1's flight termination system (FTS), which is designed to destroy the rocket if it veers off course during launch. 

The U.S. Space Force, which oversees the Eastern Range of rocket launches, originally certified Artemis 1's FTS for a 20-day stretch, back when the mission was scheduled to launch on Aug. 29. Technical glitches pushed the planned liftoff back to Sept. 27, and NASA secured FTS extensions from the Space Force through early October.

But now that Artemis 1 is back in the VAB, the mission team will retest the FTS, NASA officials wrote in Friday's update. This will allow the Space Force to recertify the system, rather than continue issuing waivers.

Related stories:

— NASA's Artemis program of lunar exploration 

— Artemis 1: Going back to the moon 

— NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission explained in photos 

Artemis 1 is the first mission of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s.

If all goes according to plan, Artemis 1 will send the uncrewed Orion on a long journey to lunar orbit and back. Artemis 2 will launch astronauts around the moon in 2024, and Artemis 3 will land a crew near the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook.  

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.