NASA postpones debut test flight of next-generation moon mega-rocket


FE Team | Published: August 29, 2022 19:37:33 | Updated: September 22, 2022 15:28:57


NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), with its Orion crew capsule on top, sitting on the pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida of the United States after the launch of the Artemis I mission was scrubbed on Monday -Reuters photo

NASA on Monday postponed for at least four days the launch of its colossal next-generation rocketship on a long-awaited debut test flight, a planned six-week uncrewed voyage around the moon and back 50 years after Apollo's last lunar mission.

The countdown clock was halted about 40 minutes before the targeted launch time of 8:33 am EDT (1233 GMT), as the 32-storey-tall, two-stage Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule awaited liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, reports Reuters.

The US space agency cited a problem detected on one of the rocket's main engines, after launch teams had begun filling the rocket's core fuel tanks with super-cooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellants.

NASA did not give a new launch date but said its first available backup launch opportunity was set for Friday, Sept 2.

 

 

 

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