Nasa now plans to launch its Artemis I moon rocket on Saturday after scrubbing an original Monday launch.
Engineers kept the mission grounded when one of its four engines failed to log the necessary temperature for launch.
But they now believe they know why the error occured, and how to prevent it happening again.
At first, the team thought they could try again on Friday. Now, it’s been pushed back to the weekend.
Artemis I is the first of five planned missions that will mark Nasa’s return to the moon. It uses the agency’s long-awaited Space Launch System rocket and an Orion capsule.
During the six-week mission, Orion will orbit the moon and release ten small satellites known as CubeSats, before travelling back to Earth and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
As well as deploying research cubes, the missions will function as a test for Artemis II and III: missions that will carry astronauts. Artemis II will see also orbit the moon, while Artemis III will see humans land on the rocky satellite for the first time since 1972.
Artemis I is the first mission to use Nasa’s SLS rocket and Orion craft.
First announced in 2011, the multi-billion dollar SLS was supposed to be ready for launches back in 2016. But it ran into numerous delays during its decade-long development.
On Saturday, engineers will have a two-hour window starting from 14:17 local time (19:17 BST) to — hopefully — see SLS launch at long last.
Monday’s attempt was scrubbed after engineers failed to register a cool enough temperature in one of four engines.
The engines need to be relatively cool so their power units aren’t shocked when they’re loaded with incredibly cold propellents.
After analysing data from Monday, engineers believe the cooling system was likely working okay. But a rogue sensor may have failed to record the correct temperature, making it impossible to know exactly how cool the engines were.
Next time, engineers will start the engine cooling process earlier so they have more time to bring their temperatures down.
‘We are going to try to launch on the third (September). And, you know, coming into this prior attempt, yesterday’s attempt, we said that if we couldn’t thermally condition the engines we wouldn’t launch, and that’s the same posture that we’re going into Saturday,’ said Mike Sarafin, Nasa’s Artemis mission manager.
Even if the engine cooling system works fine, there’s no guarantee the launch will go ahead this weekend.
As well as problems with the rocket itself, favourable environmental conditions are crucial for a launch. And there’s a decent chance of rain on Saturday.
But mission weather officer Mark Berger remains positive. He told reporters: ‘We have two hours to work with. The showers tend to have quite a bit of real estate between them, so I still think we have a pretty good opportunity weather-wise to launch on Saturday.’
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