NASA Scrubs Artemis Moon Rocket Launch Due To 'Engine Bleed'

NASA scrubbed the launch of its new moon rocket, Artemis, from Cape Canaveral on Monday (August 29), due to an "engine bleed that couldn't be remedied," the agency said during its livestream of the scheduled launch.

NASA officials called for a hold in their countdown at approximately T-minus 40 minutes to launch due to what commentator Derrol Nail referred to as an "engine bleed," which was "something they wanted to test," the New York Times reports.

“This was the first opportunity for this team to see this live in action,” Nail said, noting that engineers referred to it as “a particularly tricky issue.”

NASA said the earliest new launch date "depending on what happens with this engine bleed" would be September 2.

Officials confirmed Sunday (August 28) that five lightning strikes hit the 600-foot towers surrounding the Artemis rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday (August 27), however, the rocket nor capsule experienced any damage, NBC News reports.

The 322-foot-tall empty vessel was set to journey around the moon and is reported to be the most powerful Space Launch System rocket ever built by the agency.

The lunar orbit mission was set to take place 50 years after 12 astronauts were sent to the moon as part of NASA's Apollo program.

NASA may plan to send astronauts to the moon in a few years if a later scheduled six-week Artemis test flight is successful, though officials are aware that risks are high and a potential journey could end earlier than planned.