Space news by Jeff Foust — May 14, 2020
NASA now expects the first launch of the Space Launch System to take place in late 2021, with the coronavirus pandemic at least partially contributing to the latest delays.
Speaking at a May 14 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee, Tom Whitmeyer, NASA assistant deputy associate administrator, said the agency would announce as soon as next week that the launch readiness date for the Artemis 1 mission has slipped to late 2021.
“We’re feeling fairly comfortable that we will be having the Artemis 1 mission towards the end of next year,†he said. He declined to be more specific about the date, citing the upcoming formal announcement by the agency of the launch date.
A slip to late 2021 is not surprising. Speaking at a workshop in late February, Steve Jurczyk, NASA associate administrator, said the agency was projecting the first SLS launch would take place in the “mid to late ’21 timeframe†as NASA completed a review of the schedule for the mission.
More:
https://spacenews.com/first-sls-launch-now-expected-in-late-2021/
