SLS launch with Orion spacecraft delayed due to engine problems

NASA on Monday postponed for at least four days the long-awaited debut test flight of a next-generation superheavy rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), paired with the Orion spacecraft designed to carry a crew.

Recall that in today’s unmanned Artemis I mission, the SLS launch vehicle with the Orion spacecraft were scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, spend six weeks orbiting the moon and return back to Earth.

The countdown was stopped about 40 minutes before the scheduled launch time when the 32-stage, two-stage SLS rocket and Orion capsule were waiting to launch.

NASA cited a problem discovered in one of the rocket’s main engines after launch teams began filling the rocket’s fuel tanks with supercooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen.

NASA reports that one option for a new launch date is Sept. 2.