The early weather forecast for a launch attempt on the morning of November 16 in Florida is positive. Winds are forecast to be light, with partly to mostly clear skies. If there are technical issues that preclude the launch—this will be the third attempt to launch Artemis I in the last three months—NASA has another opportunity on Saturday, November 19. The agency has a final chance to launch this month on November 25, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.
This is an interesting article: Past mistakes to avoid in our grand return to the Moon this decade
Okay, so, funny story.
I had a big trip planned this week. After thinking about it off-and-on for a while, I decided to do a three-day auto racing school at Laguna Seca in Monterrey, California. This was gonna be the real deal; open-wheel cars, professional instructors, pretty serious stuff, but I’ve always thought it would be fun. I had the whole thing planned out, paid for it six-months in advance, and arranged to get the time off from work.
It was cancelled. They’re repaving the track in the off-season, and they decided to start a few weeks earlier than planned.
Well, I still needed a vacation, and already got approval from my bosses. I’ve never been to Florida. So I put together a quick itinerary; Miami, Disney, and going to Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.
I had no idea they had a launch window for Artemis this week. Never even occurred to me.
I’m here. I have to see it. I’ve been waiting 50 years to see it.
I am completely unprepared. I don’t know the best place to go to watch from, where to turn for updates, nothing. I didn’t bring a chair or blanket to stretch out on.
Help.
Ae there any local dopers who can point me in the right direction? One person has recommended Kennedy Point Park. Is that a good spot? Will it be open in the middle of the night? What should I take, besides a childlike wonder at the majesty of the universe and the ingenuity of man?
Need answer kinda fast.
Try this:
SLS will be launching from Pad LC-39B, though really the pad won’t matter much (they’re all several miles from the viewing areas).
The best sites will require tickets, which I imagine are sold out already. But there are other options. Good luck!
I’m not quite sure how up-to-date that page is. It says Kennedy Point Park is closed due to damage from hurricane Irma.
I’ll ask at KSC tomorrow. Maybe the good spots won’t be fully booked. I’m hoping the 1:00 to 3:00 a.m. launch will keep the crowds down a bit.
And now that I think about it, I’m glad I found out this was scheduled. How weird would it be to be out walking around at night and suddenly there’s a roar and the sky lights up?
As I was driving in to the KSC visitor’s center today, a sign said that they had tickets to a viewing area there, so I snapped one up. Not sure exactly where it’ll be, but hopefully about as close as a civilian can get. The ticket says 8:00 and the launch isn’t 'til 1:00 (at the earliest), so I’m hoping there’ll be seats and an audio feed of some sort to keep us informed. I’ll also take my cell phone.
So jealous - good luck!
NASA awards SpaceX a nice bonus mission under the Artemis program:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-spacex-second-contract-option-for-artemis-moon-landing-0
$1.15B for another landing with Artemis IV.
Old Leaky is having problems again.
No launch tonight, then?
They haven’t scrubbed yet. The stream says they’re “mobilizing red crew to address core stage LH2 leak”, whatever that means.
I was going to stay up and try to see the launch (it would be around 3AM here) and now I don’t know what to do.
You don’t suppose the red team wears… red shirts?
I think we’ll have a better idea in about half an hour.
I’m not happy about what I’m hearing, safety-wise. They’re sending crew right up next to the partially-fueled, leaky booster to tighten some nuts. SpaceX got pushback on their “load-and-go” system, where the vehicle was fueled while the crew was in the capsule, but in that case the launch abort system was engaged. Here, we have crew in the vicinity of the vehicle with no safety backup.
Red shirts sounds about right.
Blue jumpsuits. Good luck for them.
Personally, I hope they delay it about six hours, so I can watch it live while eating breakfast. 
Launch window closes in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Really? I thought that’s when the launch window opens.
It opens in an hour, 15 minutes, but I’m not sure if what I said about the closing time is right.
The livestream says the launch is 1:45:00 away. And as far as I know the window is two hours, though it’s possible they’ve eaten into that already.