Nasa calls off Monday launch of giant Moon rocket

Nasa on Monday called off the launch of its mighty new moon rocket.

According to AFP, Nasa scrubbed the test flight because of a temperature issue with one of the four RS-25 engines.

Alternative dates for launch of the Artemis1 mission, an uncrewed flight around the Moon, are September 2 and September 5.

Nasa's colossal next-generation megarocket was set for its long-awaited debut launch on Monday, on an uncrewed, six-week test flight around the moon and back, marking the first mission of the space agency's Artemis program, the successor to Apollo.

The 32-story-tall, two-stage Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule were due for blast-off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The maiden voyage of the SLS-Orion — a mission dubbed 'Artemis I' — is intended to put the 5.75-million-pound vehicle through its paces in a rigorous demonstration flight which will push its design limits, before Nasa deems it reliable enough to carry astronauts.

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