Artemis I Mission: NASA's Super Guppy delivers heat shield for upcoming mission

The heat shield for NASA's Artemis I rocket was delivered though NASA's Super Guppy on Wednesday. 

The Orion Spacecraft heat shield was delivered at the Kennedy Space Center and will protect astronauts during reentry on the third Artemis mission, when humans will walk the lunar surface.

The photos below show the heat shield being offloaded from the Super Guppy on Oct. 19. 

Officials are targeting Monday, Nov. 14 for liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. The 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. EST. 

The agency plans to roll the rocket back to the launch pad as early as Friday, Nov. 4. 

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NASA has requested back-up launch opportunities for Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 1:04 a.m. and Saturday, Nov. 19, at 1:45 a.m., which are both two-hour launch windows.

Several attempts have been made since late August, but each attempt was scrubbed due to technical issues and most recently because of the severe weather Hurricane Ian brought to Central Florida.