If Artemis I’s engine problem can be solved without moving the massive rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, then it still may be possible to launch the spacecraft on its mission to the moon as soon as Friday, NASA officials told reporters Monday.
Mission leaders decided to scrub Monday morning’s planned launch of Artemis I and its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket booster, after experiencing a conditioning issue with the third engine on SLS’s four-engine core stage. Engineers condition the engines by bleeding fuel into them to chill the engines to the proper temperature prior to launch. Engine No. 3 was not properly responding to that conditioning process, NASA said.
