Despite hurricane Nicole, NASA's lunar mission Artemis I is still scheduled to launch this week.

CTOnews.com, Nov. 15 (Xinhua)-- although NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft were hit by Hurricane Nicole, the agency said the lunar mission Artemis I will still be launched this week as scheduled. NASA officials said that some of the rockets and spacecraft did peel off from Orion, which could affect the launch, but the overall damage was "very slight."

The picture is from Flickr.

The decision to leave the rocket on the launch pad during the hurricane is controversial. Because experts are worried that the strong wind will shake the rocket, bringing some uncontrollable risks. Earlier, when Hurricane Ian threatened the Florida coast last month, the rocket was sent back to a vehicle assembly building for safety reasons. But when Hurricane Nicole, classified as a tropical storm, approached last week, NASA officials chose to leave the rocket on the launch pad.

CTOnews.com learned that the rocket seemed to have withstood the storm with only minor damage. There are two main issues of concern: an electrical connector responsible for delivering liquid hydrogen fuel to the rocket is suspected to be malfunctioning, and the other is that some of the material has fallen off from the Orion spacecraft.

At present, NASA has begun to fix electrical connector problems, but after the hurricane test, the agency has begun to troubleshoot circuit loosening problems. In addition, a material called room temperature sulfide (RTV) has been stripped from the side of the spacecraft. Mike Salafin, mission manager of Artemis I, said in a pre-launch briefing that the affected area was about 10 feet long and that the material was very thin, only 0.2 inches thick.