Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne says today was “another good day for Canada,” even though the test launch of NASA’s New Moon rocket was postponed this morning. Champagne, who is in Florida for a two-day trip that includes meetings with Canadian astronauts and NASA officials, got up at 1:30 a.m. to head to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral only to find the mission delayed. He told Canadian reporters that after more than half a century since humans last visited the moon, days or weeks of waiting for this Artemis test launch to go ahead won’t matter in the long run. A Canadian astronaut is expected to be on the first manned rocket crew, and Canada is contributing a new robotic arm to a space station that NASA plans to orbit the Moon. The first flight was scheduled to take place today with three test dummies on board, but a series of last-minute problems culminated in an unexplained engine problem. The next launch attempt won’t take place until Friday at the earliest and could be delayed until mid-September or later. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 29, 2022.
