In an astonishing development, NASA has officially announced the delay for its highly-anticipated lunar mission, after detecting last minute technical issues during routine checks, affecting liftoff.
The space agency stated that the mission which was previously slated to lift off on March 6, which would send astronauts to the moon for the first time in 50 years, would expectedly have the green light to deploy within some weeks.
However, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced on Saturday that delay would mark the start of maintenance that would have to be carried out.
Isaacman said he understood "that people are disappointed by this development", after almost 50-hours of checks on Thursday revealed no faults.
For the mission, four astronauts are preparing to be sent on the 10-day trip to the farthest side of the Moon and back, marking humanity’s farthest journey in 50 years.
NASA had already done all the preparation for the historical missions; however, overnight on Friday, engineers observed an interruption in the flow of helium needed for liftoff.
Disruption to helium, which is used to pressurise fuel tanks and cool rocket systems, is treated as a serious technical issue, according to Nasa.
The mission is hoping to pave the way for Artemis III, which would help astronauts to mark their footprints on the Moon for the first time since 1972.
