NASA’s first Space Launch System rocket launch could be delayed until 2020

The first manned test of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, dubbed Exploration Mission 2, is now planned to launch no later than 2023.

The agency has announced the outcome of the latest review of its launch schedule for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), following its previous assessment that crewed missions would have to wait until at least 2020.

NASA’s review considered challenges related to building the SLS rocket’s core stage, issues with constructing Orion’s first European service module and tornado damage at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, NASA officials said in a statement. Acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot thinks the agency can hit an earlier launch date.

NASA is still on target to cover the costs of EM-1 for a 2019 launch.

But NASA hopes that it would be able to launch the uncrewed mission by December 2019. The agency is now building hardware for EM-1 and the following mission, which would bring astronauts aboard.

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), chairman of the Space subcommittee, said in his opening statement that successful completion of the SLS and Orion efforts would meet the long-term goal of the 2017 NASA Transition Authorization Act “to extend human presence throughout the solar system”.

The Orion spacecraft is created to take astronauts to deep space destinations, NASA said it now plans to accelerate a test of Orion’s launch abort system ahead of EM-1, and is targeting April 2019.

In the meantime, NASA will continue to aim for that 2019 launch. That test is now set for April 2019, and it will evaluate the spacecraft’s ability to get crew members to safety if the need ever arises – an ability that will need to be thoroughly tested before moving forward on Exploration Mission 2 (EM-2), the first crewed Orion mission.