The SLS rocket sits on launch pad 39B, Nov. 11, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Joel Kowsky
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NASA left its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the launch pad during Hurricane Nicole.
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The rocket suffered minor damage and NASA still plans to launch it for the first time on Wednesday.
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It’s risky to leave a rocket without a shelter on the coast of Florida during a hurricane.
NASA left its prized new moon rocket exposed on the Florida launch pad as Hurricane Nicole battered the state with powerful winds.
The Space Launch System, or SLS, is 17 years old, and is estimated at $50 billion. NASA designed it to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972 and to build a new permanent base on the lunar surface.
SLS hasn’t flown yet. It has suffered setbacks all year due to technical and weather issues, and now its launch is being delayed again, from Monday, November 14 to Wednesday, November 16, as NASA addresses “minor damage” from the hurricane.
One of the engine rain covers broke off, an umbilical cord between the rocket and its Orion spacecraft dislodged, and some sealant was damaged around the spacecraft.
The Orion spacecraft is lowered atop the SLS in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 20, 2021. NASA/Frank Michaux
“Right now, there’s nothing that’s going to stop us from getting to the 16th,” NASA associate administrator Jim Free said during a briefing Friday.
But it’s unusual for NASA to leave such a valuable rocket on the launch pad in the middle of a hurricane. There was no guarantee that winds or flooding would not exceed the rocket’s design limits. AccuWeather forecasters warned before the storm that there was a 60 percent chance of wind speeds exceeding those limits.
“This entire situation raises serious questions about NASA’s procedures for weather risk mitigation and preparedness based on available forecasts,” Jonathan Porter, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in a statement.
NASA launched the rocket with a storm on the horizon
Satellite imagery shows Tropical Storm Nicole on November 10, 2022. NOAA VA East
NASA rolled the rocket from its Shielded Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad on November 4, as the cyclone formed in the Atlantic Ocean. At the time, forecasts did not show that the storm would be strong enough to exceed NASA’s safety limitations for the rocket.
The story continues
“I think if we had known the night before it launched that it was going to be a hurricane, we probably would have stayed in the VAB,” Free said.
When Nicole shut down, the prognosis looked worse. But it takes several days to plan and execute a return to VAB. Then the winds would be too strong to spend nine hours safely returning the rocket to the building. This is already a stress on the rocket hardware. Add strong winds and NASA is at risk of serious damage.
“We couldn’t go back to the VAB and be safe,” Free said.
When it made landfall on Thursday, Nicole battered SLS with powerful winds. Meters recorded wind gusts of up to 100 mph near the top of the launch pad. None of this exceeded the rocket’s design limits, according to Free.
People walk along a damaged boardwalk closed after the passage of Hurricane Nicole in Vero Beach, Florida November 10, 2022. Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters
“It’s important to note that wind strength increases exponentially, not linearly, so small increases in wind can lead to substantial increases in damage potential,” Porter said.
Free said NASA officials spent hours assessing and discussing the risks of leaving the rocket on the launch pad, rather than returning it to the VAB. In short, it seems that the risk has paid off.
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