Artemis 1 Moon Mission Launch Postponed for 3rd Time Over Poor Weather - NASA

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Saturday it once again postponed the launch of Artemis 1 unmanned moon mission, scheduled for Tuesday, as tropical storm Ian is edging toward the US coast.

"NASA is foregoing a launch opportunity Tuesday, Sept. 27, and preparing for rollback, while continuing to watch the weather forecast associated with Tropical Storm Ian," the statement said.

According to the US National Hurricane Surveillance Center, tropical storm Ian formed over the Caribbean Sea on Saturday. It is expected to cross the central part of the Caribbean Sea and move through the southwestern part of Jamaica on Sunday. On Monday night, the storm will pass near the Cayman Islands and approach the western part of Cuba.

Prior to this call-off, NASA canceled the two planned launches of Artemis 1 mission atop a Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft due to technical issues. On September 3, the launch was delayed due to a liquid hydrogen leak, with specialists trying to fix the problem right at the launch pad.