Thanks to proper preparation, NASA said the incident did not damage Artemis I, a 30-story spacecraft that aims to bring people to the moon for the first time since 1972.
A video posted by photographer Jerry Pike on Twitter shows the moment a lightning strike hit the tower that supports the rocket.
Artemis I was in the middle of a series of critical power tests in anticipation of his maiden voyage when lightning struck.
It was intact, but the three-day “wet dress rehearsal,” the last major test before launching the rocket on an unmanned mission, delayed several hours as the storm passed, according to the New York Times.
A fourth strike was “the strongest we have seen since we installed the new lightning protection system,” said Jeremy Parsons, deputy director of NASA’s Soil Exploration Systems, according to Space.com.
The launch pad’s lightning protection system consists of a fiberglass mast connected to a cable that deflects lightning into the ground, Parsons said in a Twitter post.
The system is equipped with sensors that help monitor the health of the rocket after lightning strikes the structure, according to Parsons.
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