How a cloud can stop a launch

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We have liftoff! Those three words are music to NASA ears as Artemis has faced a number of delays over the past several weeks. I think we can all understand mechanical concerns, high winds, thunderstorms and hurricanes as launch-blockers. What I didn’t realize until yesterday is that one good healthy cumulus cloud can stop a rocket launch in its tracks! A cumulus cloud? Those puffy, fair-weather innocent-looking clouds against a beautiful blue sky? The kind that don’t even produce rain? Yep. Those clouds.

This is why the Artemis launch director had her tie cut with scissors after the rocket’s liftoff

Read full article: This is why the Artemis launch director had her tie cut with scissors after the rocket’s liftoff

Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson has made history before. She cemented her spot in space history as NASA’s first female launch director. Now she’s added to her story by leading the first test flight of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.