“The launch director blew off today’s Artemis 1 launch. Several attempts to fix the leak. . . did not solve the problem,” Nasa writes in a statement.
The moon rocket would have been launched on Saturday evening Swedish time, and around 400,000 people are estimated to have gathered nearby to see and hear the launch.
“Incredibly advanced machines”
According to astronaut Victor Glover, moving the launch forward was the right decision.
– These are really incredibly advanced machines, he says.
That the launch is once again postponed is a loss of prestige for a space program that is already heavily delayed and has become many billions more expensive than planned.
Unclear when the next attempt will be
The launch was originally scheduled to take place on Monday morning, August 29, but was postponed after Nasa engineers discovered fuel leaks and an overheated engine.
It is still unclear when the next launch attempt will take place. The project’s working group will meet later on Saturday local time. It needs to determine whether another launch attempt can be made in the near future, says Nasa director Bill Nelson.
Artemis 1 is a test for future manned lunar missions. There will be no humans on board, but three human-like dolls. If all goes well, Nasa hopes to be able to put people on the moon again, including the first female astronaut, by 2025 at the earliest.