After several failed attempts, the American space agency NASA wants to launch the unmanned lunar mission Artemis 1 on Wednesday (from 1:04 a.m. local time; 7:04 a.m. CET).
The SLS rocket is to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida and launch an Orion capsule into space. There is a two hour time window for the start.
Hurricane disrupts launch plans
In August and September, NASA had to cancel the planned launch of the SLS rocket twice at short notice due to technical problems. A planned start for late September was then postponed due to Hurricane “Ian”, more recently Hurricane “Nicole” caused further delays.
Artemis 1 is intended to prepare for the return of humans to the moon. The Orion capsule will orbit the moon during a mission of several weeks, but will not land on Earth’s satellite. (AFP)