NASA has postponed the launch of the Artemis 1 mission to the moon due to a malfunctioning core stage engine. The American space agency had been set to launch on Monday its colossal next-generation rocketship named as Artemis programme on a long-awaited debut test flight, a planned six-week uncrewed voyage around the moon and back, 50 years after Apollo's last lunar mission.<br />''<br />''The countdown clock was halted about 40 minutes before the targeted launch time, as the 32-storey-tall, two-stage Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion crew capsule awaited liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in Florida. The US space agency cited a problem detected on one of the rocket's main engines after launch teams had begun filling the rocket's core fuel tanks with super-cooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellants.<br />''<br />''NASA did not give a new launch date but said its first available backup launch opportunity was set for Friday, 2nd of September. Tens of thousands of people, including US Vice President Kamala Harris – had gathered along the beach near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the launch.<br />''<br />''The goal of the flight, is to test the SLS and the Orion crew capsule that sits atop the rocket. Orion was due to carry a simulated crew of three – one male and two female mannequins – fitted with sensors to measure radiation levels and other stresses that real-life astronauts would experience.<br />''<br />''<br />