NASA started the countdown Monday for this week's planned liftoff of its new moon rocket, although hurricane damage could cause yet another delay for the test flight.

Hurricane Nicole's high winds caused a 10-foot (3-meter) section of caulking to peel away near the crew capsule at the top of the rocket last Thursday. Mission managers want to make sure the narrow strip won't damage the rocket if it breaks off during liftoff.

I love a good space launch, and I have been eagerly awaiting NASA's powerful new Space Launch System rocket to take off as the first part of NASA's ambitious Artemis Mission to put U.S. astronauts back on the Moon. But this launch has already been pushed back four times this year—twice due to technical issues and once apiece for a tropical storm and a hurricane.

I am a professor of space studies who teaches courses in space law and history. One lesson I've learned is that as successful as the U.S. and other nations have been at launching rockets into space over the decades, a huge number of launches get delayed due to weather or safety concerns. Of NASA's 135 Space Shuttle missions, only about 40% launched on time.

After two failed attempts this summer, NASA was busy Monday completing final preparations for the launch of its new mega Moon rocket, now scheduled for early Wednesday from Florida.

The Artemis 1 mission, a test flight without astronauts, represents the first step in the US space agency's plan to build a lasting presence on the Moon, and taking lessons from there to prepare for a future voyage to Mars.

It is still a glimpse into the future: Astronauts could be put into artificial hibernation and in this state be better protected from cosmic radiation. At present, there are already promising approaches to follow up such considerations.

An international research team led by the Biophysics Department of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum in Darmstadt now has found decisive indications of the possible benefits of artificial hibernation for radiation resistance. The research partners from Germany, Japan, Italy, the UK and the USA have recently published their results in Scientific Reports.

Scientists call the state, which hibernating animals enter, torpor. In this state, life-supporting functions of an organism are reduced: Body temperature is lowered, metabolism is reduced and body functions such as heart rate and respiration rate or oxygen uptake are significantly slowed down.