From what I understand, the pictures with the lines are taken with the OpNav cameras which keep the space craft oriented by studying the surface of the moon.

Some info here - https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210000793/downloads/Orion%20Optical%20Navigation.pptx.pdf

And more details here - https://mashable.com/article/nasa-artemis-1-moon-images-pictures-orion

The cameras have to be able to see tiny feature differences, so their contrast is higher than usual. The lines could be part of the sensor or some other part of the image processing pipeline. Sometimes markers like that are used to help differentiate between different flat aspects of an image, since the lines are a known constant.

I figure its the universe trying to tell us to stop looking at its nethers.

NASA had just moved it back either friday or saturday, and back then the chances of Nicole becoming a hurricane were very low. NASA has other time limits too, the batteries, abort explosives, and the solid rocket boosters all have limited life spans.

NASA moved it back to the pad as early as possible so they could meet the next launch time. After that one the next launch window isn't till December I believe. If the launch slips to 2023 NASA will have to bring back the rocket to redo all the things that have fully expired.

The whole launch stack and rocket are hooked up to various plumbing and electrical systems on the pad. Disconnecting those properly and safely takes many hours.

An example of some data from LC39 https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/168440main_LC39-06.pdf

Then the whole tower launch platform has to be readied for moving.

The launch tower doesn't move that fast either, about 1mph max but with something like SLS they will stay lower for the sake of safety. It takes about 24 hours to move it from the VAB to the Launch pad. That distance from LC39B to the VAB is about 4 miles.

Another thing to consider is that rockets are basically massive water towers in that their supporting structure is on the outside and then inside is basically empty space. They are built to withstand vertical forces from launch first, and everything else second because the chances of them facing those other forces are muuuch lower. When its already costing billions to build it as is, it'd be insane to build it to withstand things that are lower on the chances.

I was trying to find a document on the whole process, which should be available to the public but finding it is another story.

I found the stuff below, which is mostly for marketing purposes so its really dumbed down which is unfortunate because it simplifies a lot of things.

https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/168440main_LC39-06.pdf

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/combined_crawler-transporters_fact_sheet_final.pdf

The two handbooks below have a ton of juicy technical details. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_systems_engineering_handbook_0.pdf

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19660024575/downloads/19660024575.pdf

I don't think they had a choice. They just got the thing back onto the pad, and it takes multiple days to prepare and move back. Further more moving it puts a lot of stress on the rocket too and they only have so many moves budgeted.