Tropical Storm Nicole To Strengthen Into Hurricane As It Nears Florida; Is NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon Mission Launch Delayed Again?

Tropical Storm Nicole is pummeling the Bahamas with a hazardous storm surge early on Wednesday before it makes landfall as a potential Category 1 hurricane on Florida's east coast.

As Hurricane Nicole prepares to make landfall late Wednesday north of West Palm Beach, Florida, it is expected to inflict severe wind damage and heavy rain on a population of up to four million people along Florida's east coast.

"Nicole is expected to weaken while moving across Florida and the southeastern United States Thursday through Friday," the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday morning.

Tropical Strom Nicole Heading to Florida

It's anticipated that the weather along the state's east coast would worsen as tropical-storm-force winds sweep inland Tuesday night into Wednesday, NBC News wrote.

The center of Nicole is anticipated to hit the northwest Bahamas on Tuesday and be a hurricane or very close to one Wednesday as it passes close to or over the islands before making landfall on Florida's east coast Wednesday night.

After that, according to the hurricane agency, the storm is "expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia Thursday and Thursday night,"

Radar and satellite imagery showed the storm edging closer to Florida. While weather systems are capricious and can alter path and strength without warning, meteorologists generally have a reasonable notion of where the storm is heading.

NASA Postpones Artemis 1 Mission Yet Again Due to Tropical Strom Nicole

NASA has repeatedly postponed its first lunar mission, Artemis 1, in fifty years. However, Tropical Storm Nicole will now force it to delay its scheduled launch again.

On Monday, November 14, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida was to serve as the launch site for Artemis 1. Due to Nicole's closeness to Florida's Atlantic Coast, NASA postponed the launch date to November 16.

Due to technical difficulties, the first launch of Artemis 1 was postponed by one month. Hurricane Ian in September compelled NASA to delay the launch and shelve their moon rocket back in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at KSC.

NASA has decided to re-target the launch for next Wednesday to provide the crew with safe working conditions. The organization's blog post stated that they are closely watching the tropical storm.

According to NASA, its employees needed to do this to take care of their family members. Additionally, by delaying the launch, the team will have adequate logistical time to resume preparations once the storm has passed.

The agency determined that keeping the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft parked at the launch pad was the safest action for the launch equipment based on the forecasted weather and alternatives to withdrawing ahead of the storm.

Check out more news and information on Tropical Storm and Space in Science Times.