NASA Is Confident Artemis 1 Will Launch November 14

Ever since we put man on the moon, people have been racing to get back there. That’s not all. Despite the fact that humans and rovers have already been to the moon, there is still so much to learn about the ball of rock floating above the Earth and how it affects the planet. Plus, there are ongoing theories about what really lies out there on the moon.

That’s why NASA has been busy working on the Artemis 1 mission. The problem? The latest space mission has been filled with issues from the beginning that have seen it delayed time and time again. Although there were once hopes that everything would have launched by now, NASA is confident Artemis 1 will launch November 14.

Artemis 1 is scheduled to launch on November 14, 2022

Artemis 1 is far from a simple launch. That’s because the space mission consists of the Orion spacecraft and the huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Now, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is due to see Artemis 1 launch on November 14 at 12:07 am EST after years of work. This should hopefully come after the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) rolls out the SLS stack on November 4. The stack has already been used three times - once in March, once in June, and once in August, although both of the latter’s launches were aborted. Now, Jim Free, someone working at NASA’s headquarters in Washington D.C., says they “wouldn’t roll out” if they “weren’t confident” that things will be launching later in the month. 

The space mission has been a challenge from the beginning

If there’s one thing the world has learned about the Artemis 1 mission, it’s that it’s been a challenge from the beginning. This is something Jim Free knows better than most people. He admitted as much to reporters, stating, “this is a challenging mission.” Apparently, the team has been taking “more risks” than ever before in the build-up to putting a crew on the rocket to learn from their mistakes and create as many models of the mission as they can. All of this comes after the SLS stack has been damaged and had to be rolled away during Hurricane Ian to avoid further damages - and delays.

NASA officials aren’t put off by Artemis 1’s issues

Despite the challenges the team has faced, it seems the team at NASA isn’t worried about Artemis 1 and the latest expected launch date. In fact, Jim Free admitted to Space that the team’s “first allegiance is to the hardware and doing things right.” A lot of the criticism has come from the fact NASA is “spending taxpayer dollars” to bring the mission to life, and they’re yet to launch Artemis 1 as planned. Still, Jim says the team appreciates questions and will never “[push] too hard,” rush to launch, or “[make] a bad decision.” 

Artemis 1 is the beginning of a new space adventure

Artemis 1 promises a lot, and so far, people are worried that it won’t live up to expectations. To start, the mission will send an uncrewed mission on Orion to the lunar orbit and - hopefully - back. From there, NASA plans on using the data to work on how they can send a crew to the south pole of the moon sometime in 2025 or 2026. Once they have everything in place, NASA hopes to complete the mission by having a human presence on the moon before the decade is up.

NASA is confident Artemis 1 will launch November 14, but only time will tell if the rocket is set to leave Earth in a few days. After all, the world has heard plenty of promises so far, and none of them have seen the Artemis 1 mission launch the way it was expected.