The first crewed Artemis mission is now targeted for no earlier than Feb. 8, two days later than originally planned, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
NASA had been preparing to conduct a fueling test of its 322-foot (98-meter) moon rocket on Saturday, but the agency called off the operation late Thursday because of the expected cold. The critical dress rehearsal has been rescheduled for Monday, weather permitting.
The change leaves NASA with only three viable launch days in February to send four astronauts around the Moon and back before the schedule slips into March.
“Any additional delays would result in a day-for-day change,” NASA said in a statement on Friday.
Officials said heaters are keeping the Orion capsule warm atop the rocket, while rocket-purging systems are also being adapted to operate in the cold conditions.
Mission commander Reid Wiseman and his crew remain in quarantine in Houston, and their arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida remains uncertain.
NASA has only a narrow launch window each month for its first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century. The last such flight, Apollo 17, concluded the original Apollo program in 1972.
Adding to the scheduling pressure is the need to launch a new crew to the International Space Station as soon as possible. That mission has been accelerated following the early return of the previous crew for medical reasons.
Mission managers said the Artemis moonshot will take priority if it can launch by Feb. 11, the final possible launch date for the month. If that occurs, the next space station crew would have to wait until the Artemis astronauts return to Earth before launching later in February.
