NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as preparations for launch continue on August 25, 2022.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
The first launch of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket was delayed on Monday because of an engine issue.
NASA’s next launch opportunity is Friday, September 2, but it’s not clear if the engine issue can be resolved by then.
Artemis I is a 42-day test flight that will set the stage for future Artemis missions with astronauts.
After a long-awaited run-up to the day NASA’s moon rocket was supposed to blast off from Earth, the mission’s launch was delayed due to an engine issue.
Just 40 minutes before liftoff, NASA froze the launch countdown to inspect a suspicious difference in temperature on one of the RS-25 engines as they all went through the routine process of bleeding hydrogen. Engine number 3 wasn’t matching its three counterparts.
“The issue that came up was an engine bleed that couldn’t be remedied, but the rocket is currently in a stable configuration. It was mostly tanked [with fuel], but not completely tanked,” Derrol Nail, NASA spokesperson said during live commentary on Monday. “We held at T-40 minutes and counting after the team was unable to get past an engine bleed that didn’t show the right temperature once they got into the engine bleed test.”
In a blog post Monday morning, NASA wrote that “engineers are looking at options to gather as much data as possible.”
The space agency says the earliest opportunity to launch will be on Friday, September 2 at 12:58 p.m. ET — which was one of the backup launch windows in case of technical issues or weather delays. However, engineers will make the decision once they’ve gathered more data about the issue.
“That [date] is available to the launch team, however we will await a determination of what the plan is to go forward, to remedy the engine bleed, and then go from there,” Nail said. “We must wait to see what shakes out from their test data.”
In the meantime, the rocket will remain on Launchpad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
More than 100,000 visitors were expected to gather near the space center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to view the inaugural launch.
NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion spaceship, according to The Planetary Society.
During the Artemis I mission, the SLS mega-rocket aims to fly the Orion crew capsule all the way around the moon — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown — before heading back for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in October.
There won’t be people on board during the Artemis I launch. But if the spaceship successfully completes its mission, NASA plans to put astronauts in the Orion module for another trip around the moon, during the Artemis II mission, then land them on the lunar surface as part of Artemis III, in 2025. That would be humans’ first return to the moon since 1972.