Weather Looks Good For Saturday Artemis Launch Attempt

Weather looks good for the much-anticipated Artemis moon rocket launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center Saturday, although storms could cause some early delays.

The two-hour launch window opens at 2:17 p.m. EDT. Weather is 60% go at that point, with concerns over lightning and storms.

45th Weather Squadron Launch Weather Officer Melody Lovin said in a briefing Friday morning that delays are possible, but that the weather isn't anticipated to be a "showstopper."

“I do expect to make some no-go calls at some point tomorrow," Lovin said. "However, as that East Coast sea breeze drifts farther inland we do expect clearing on the back side of that and that is the reason why we are trending the forecast to more of an 80% favorability at the end of the launch window tomorrow afternoon."

(MORE: Weather Key To Artemis Launch)

The weather squadron, based at Patrick Space Force Base near the launch site, is responsible for launch-day forecasts that can make or break a lift-off.

As of late Friday afternoon, the forecast hadn't changed.

Each launch has specific weather constraints that must be met, including limits on temperature, clouds, lightning and winds. Some of the conditions are on the ground, some are in the atmosphere, and others are within a certain distance from the launch pad.

(MORE: NASA Will Build Weather Centers In Space During Artemis Missions)

Spectators can expect the weather to be hot and steamy, with temperatures in the upper 80s and high humidity. The UV index is forecast to be 9 out of 10, so sun protection will be important. Lightning could also be a danger.

Despite good weather, technical issues could still get in the way of a successful launch. A planned liftoff last Monday was scrubbed due to a series of problems, the biggest being getting one of the engines to the right temperature.

NASA officials have repeatedly stressed that the Artemis 1 mission is a test flight. If Saturday's attempt is scrubbed, a backup date is available Monday with a 90-minute windowing opening at 5:12 p.m. ET. Weather is also favorable then, Lovin said.

The mission of the massive Artemis rocket, officially called the Space Launch System or SLS for short, is to send an unmanned Orion capsule into orbit around the moon in preparation for taking humans back to the lunar surface within the next couple of years and, in the future, farther into deep space.

NASA says the SLS is its most powerful rocket ever.

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