NASA has postponed the launch of its Artemis 1 Moon rocket mission, which was due to take off on Bank Holiday Monday (August 29). Issues occurred with one of the engines, the space agency explained.
The new 322ft Space Launch System rocket, which NASA says is the world's most powerful to date, was preparing to be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was to take the Orion capsule, powered by the Airbus-built European Service Module (ESM), into the Moon’s orbit.
NASA said: “Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson has called a scrub of the attempt of the launch of Artemis 1. The issue that came up was an engine bleed which couldn’t be remedied but the rocket is currently in a stable configuration.
"It was mostly tanked but not completely tanked. Engineers are now working on a plan to continue gathering data about this particular engine and the bleed that didn’t work out.” They added that the first opportunity for the next launch attempt will be September 2 depending on how the engine bleed develops.
Earlier on, the Artemis 1 Moon rocket launch was put on hold around 40 minutes before it had been due to take off due to an engine conditioning issue. The space agency said: “The countdown clock is on a hold at T-40 minutes.
“The hydrogen team of the Nasa Space Launch System rocket is discussing plans with the Artemis 1 launch director.”
The uncrewed flight marks the next chapter in putting humans back on the Moon, and is the first in Nasa’s Artemis programme. The mission duration is 42 days, 3 hours, 20 minutes, and in total the capsule will travel 1.3 million miles.
It was due to splash down to Earth on Monday October 10. There will be astronauts on board for subsequent missions, with the first crewed flight into space scheduled for 2024.
Nasa expects the first Artemis astronauts to land on the Moon in 2025.
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