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Cold weather puts wet dress rehearsal in question for Artemis II
NASA must meet strict temperature criteria above 41°F to safely load propellants for Artemis II wet dress rehearsal or face potential delays to the Feb. 6 launch.
- On Jan. 30, NASA will attempt an earlier wet dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center to protect a Feb. 6 launch window, moving it from Feb. 2 to gain extra margin.
- With temperatures forecasted into the 20s this weekend at Kennedy Space Center, NASA said the 24-hour average must stay above 41.4 degrees at about 132.5 and about 257.5 feet to allow tanking.
- Loading more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant, the wet dress rehearsal runs a full countdown to T-30 seconds, starting 49 hours before target launch and including propellant unloading and possible rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
- Delays from an incomplete wet dress rehearsal would jeopardize near-term launch opportunities and the Artemis II timeline, as NASA said a failed test may force rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building and cut into February launch opportunities.
- Don Platt and other experts say lessons from shuttle-era failures and Artemis I inform today's caution, with cold weather this week drawing parallels to the Challenger disaster on its 40th anniversary.
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NASA had planned to run its wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis II mission at Kennedy Space Center as early as Saturday, but it will have to thread the needle before temperatures drop below the agency's limits for the tanking test.
·Orlando, United States
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How NASA is considering weather for Artemis II mission, 40 years after Challenger disaster
Cold temperatures inhibited the space shuttle Challenger’s infrastructure from working properly. NASA has set potential weather conditions that would stop Artemis II from launching as scheduled.
·Houston, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources12
Leaning Left2Leaning Right0Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution78% Center
Bias Distribution
- 78% of the sources are Center
78% Center
L 22%
C 78%
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