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By Efosa Taiwo

NASA has suspended a test flight of its largest-ever rocket to send humans back to the moon and then to Mars.

It said that it is a very complicated machine and it is not yet ready for launch.

The blastoff had been planned for 8:33 am (1233 GMT) but was cancelled because of a temperature problem with one of the four RS-25 engine on the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The NASA administrator, Bill Nelson said, “We don’t launch until it’s right,”
“This is a very complicated machine. You don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go.”

NASA confirmed that a test to get one of the engines to the proper temperature range for liftoff was not successful.

It revealed that the SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule at the top “remain in a safe and stable configuration.”

Thousands of people including US Vice President Kamala Harris had gathered near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to witness the launch, which comes 50 years after Apollo 17 astronauts last set foot on the Moon.

NASA engineers would, however, discovered the engine temperature problem and consequently, halt the countdown before eventually scrapping the launch.