The Artemis-1 Moon mission of the US space agency NASA has been postponed. The countdown for its launch was halted shortly before due to a fault in one of the rocket’s four engines. The rocket was to be launched at 8.33 a.m. EDT on Monday.
“The launch director halted today’s Artemis I launch attempt at approximately 8:34 a.m. EDT”, NASA said in a statement.
According to NASA, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft remain in a safe and stable configuration.
Launch controllers were continuing to evaluate why a bleed test to get the RS-25 engines on the bottom of the core stage to the proper temperature range for liftoff was not successful, and ran out of time in the two-hour launch window. Engineers are continuing to gather additional data, NASA said in a statement.
NASA’s next launch date is this Friday, Sept. 2. The launch window will open at 12:48 p.m. ET, lasting for for two hours.
Artemis is the first step in the next era of human exploration. Together with commercial and international partners, NASA says it will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon to prepare for missions to Mars.
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