The launch of its largest-ever Moon rocket Artemis was called off Monday due to a temperature issue with one of the four engines
The Artemis I rocket sits on launch pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center as it is prepared for launch of an unmanned flight around the moon on August 28, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch is scheduled for Monday between 8:33am and 10:33am and would be the furthest into space any unmanned vehicle intended for humans has ever traveled before. Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
United States: NASA called off the test flight on Monday of its largest-ever Moon rocket because of a temperature issue with one of the four giant engines. "The launch director has called a scrub for the day," the US space agency said.
Alternative dates for launch of the Artemis 1 mission, an uncrewed flight around the Moon as part of an ambitious program to eventually go to Mars, are Friday and next Monday.
Blastoff had been planned for 8:33 am (1233 GMT) but was put on hold because of a temperature problem with one of the four engines on the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Tens of thousands of people -- including US Vice President Kamala Harris -- had gathered near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the launch, which comes 50 years after Apollo 17 astronauts last set foot on the Moon.
The goal of the flight is to test the SLS and Orion crew capsule that sits atop the rocket. Mannequins equipped with sensors are standing in for a crew for the mission.
Overnight operations to fill the orange-and-white rocket with more than three million liters of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen were briefly delayed by a high risk of lightning.