Nasa Artemis 1 moon rocket launch postponed after engine issue

Nasa scrubbed the test flight on Monday of its giant moon rocket because of a temperature issue with one of the four RS-25 engines

The next launch attempt will not take place until Friday at the earliest

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Nasa cancelled Monday’s blast-off of a next-generation moon rocket. Postponing uncrewed debut test flight of Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:53pm, 29 Aug 2022Updated: 9:54am, 30 Aug 2022

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 programme to eventually go to Mars, are Friday and next Monday.

Blast-off had been planned for 8:33am (1233 GMT) but was put on hold because of a temperature problem with one of the four engines on the 322-foot (98-metre) 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. No one has visited the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

Nasa Kennedy Space Center director Janet Petro, left, Nasa Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson, welcome Vice-President Kamala Harris as she arrives at the Kennedy Space Center, ahead of the planned launch for Artemis 1, on Monday in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo: AP

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.