Although several lightning strikes struck NASA's giga-rocket launch site, the spectacular celestial event fortunately caused no damage.
NASA's new lunar rocket was about to undergo a fuel check when lightning struck its launch pad several times last Saturday, 2 April. Although NASA has not released any footage of the event, photographer Jerry Pike posted an unusual video of the lightning strike on social media. Although no damage was caused, the lightning caused a delay of several hours in a crucial test of the Space Launch System (SLS) - from from Insider. A NASA recorded a total of four lightning strikes, three of which were described as moderate and one as strong.
Lightning strikes the umbilical tower of NASA's new SLS rocket #Artemis #SLS #Lightning pic.twitter.com/lkuAzvUyLK
- Jerry Pike (@JerryPikePhoto) April 2, 2022
The SLS is the largest and most powerful rocket in the Space Agency's fleet and is currently planned to carry the Orion spacecraft and its four-man crew to the Moon by 2025. Before that, it will be involved in two other important events in the near future: in May 2022 at the earliest, the launch vehicle will take the Orion spacecraft into space (without crew at that time), and around May 2024 it will carry Orion with four astronauts to the far side of the Moon, where it will bring the astronauts back to Earth after ten days in space, without them having to set foot on the surface of the Moon.
The manned lunar landing has been postponed several times, and the original plan was for the first US astronaut to land on the Moon in 2024 with the Artemis programme. The last time the Apollo 17 crew left a space bootprint on the lunar surface was on 11 December 1972.
