Nasa on Monday postponed for at least four days the launch of its colossal next-generation rocket ship 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 8.33am local time (2.33pm South African time), as the 32-storey-tall, two-stage Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule awaited liftoff from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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, 2 September. — Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman, (c) 2022 Reuters