Launch Of Artemis Scrubbed Due To Engine Concerns, New Date Pending

CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA said the scheduled liftoff of the Artemis was scrubbed before the launch Monday morning.

In a tweet posted by NASA at 8:47 a.m., the space center announced that the launch, with a window from 8:33 to 10:33 a.m., had been delayed due to engine problems.

Monday's launch was to be the first time for the multibillion-dollar Artemis rocket, the most powerful NASA has ever built. The rocket will carry the Orion spacecraft, without any astronauts on board, toward the moon as NASA begins a timetable to send the first woman and person of color to the lunar surface, The Washington Post reported.

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.

NASA's new moon rocket was sitting on Launch Pad 39-B, set for launch, when NASA announced the launch was scrubbed.

"We don't launch until it's right," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "In fact, they've got a problem with the gases going on the engine bleed with one engine. There are certain guidelines. I think it's just illustrative that this is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work. And you don't want to light the candle until it's ready to go."

Nelson recalled his own experience as a NASA astronaut.

"I have some personal experience and the crew that I participated in on the 24th flight of the space shuttle, we scrubbed four times on the pad, and the fifth try was a flawless mission," Nelson said. "You know, this is just part of the space business. And it's particularly part of a test flight. We are testing and stressing the spacecraft in a way you'd never do with a human crew on board."

He said the launch team is "taking the opportunity while the craft is fueled to work this problem and they'll get to the bottom of it. They'll get it fixed and we'll fly."

On hand for Monday's historic launch was Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the National Space Council.

The next available launch date is Sept. 2 but it's unclear if the launch team will be ready for that window. Another news conference is planned later Monday.

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I is an unmanned flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and the capability to return humans to the moon and beyond.

During the Artemis 1 flight, Orion will launch atop the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.

Over the course of the mission, it will travel 280,000 miles from Earth and 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. Orion will stay in space longer than any human spacecraft has without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

"This first Artemis mission will demonstrate the performance of both Orion and the Space Launch System rocket and test our capabilities to orbit the moon and return to Earth," NASA said in a news release. "The flight will pave the way for future missions to the lunar vicinity, including landing the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the moon."

Patch readers can watch the live news conference here.