Because of Nicole .. “NASA” postpones the launch of a rocket to the moon

 The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it will keep its new large moon-bound rocket on its launch pad to avoid a hurricane expected to strike near Cape Canaveral, Florida, and that the target launch date next week has been postponed by two days.

The Kennedy Space Center is located near the middle of a strip of about 386 kilometers on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Florida, where forecasters say Tropical Storm Nicole is likely to hit Wednesday evening or early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said that as of Tuesday evening, the maximum speed of the winds accompanying Nicole reached 100 kilometers per hour, and the strength of the storm was increasing as it headed to the northern Bahamas on its way to Florida.

The maximum wind speed associated with a category one hurricane is between 119 and 153 kilometers per hour. NASA's next-generation rocket, which is 32 stories tall, was installed on the launch pad last week in a third attempt to launch it on its first unmanned round trip to the moon.

The flight, the first in the ambitious new "Artemis" program to explore the moon, was scheduled to launch next Monday. As a result of Nicole's approach, NASA postponed the launch for at least two days to Wednesday, November 16, giving the crew additional time to take care of their families and homes before the storm and prepare the rocket for flight afterward.

NASA said it will leave the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule on the launch pad until the storm passes rather than trying to return the spacecraft to its hangar, a process that takes nearly 12 hours and involves additional risks.

If the giant tractor used to transport the rocket to and from its hangar collapses, the spacecraft could become more vulnerable, said Mark Burger, launch meteorologist at the US Space Force station in Cape Canaveral.