NASA delays the first Artemis moonshot with astronauts because of extreme cold at the launch site

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has delayed astronauts’ upcoming trip to the moon because of near-freezing temperatures expected at the launch site.

The first Artemis moonshot with a crew is now targeted for no earlier than Feb. 8, two days later than planned.

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NASA was all set to conduct a fueling test of the 322-foot (98-meter) moon rocket on Saturday, but called everything off late Thursday because of the expected cold.

The critical dress rehearsal is now set for Monday, weather permitting. The change leaves NASA with only three days in February to send four astronauts around the moon and back, before slipping into March.

“Any additional delays would result in a day for day change,” NASA said in a statement Friday.

Heaters are keeping the Orion capsule warm atop the rocket, officials said, and rocket-purging systems are also being adapted to the cold.

Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew remain in quarantine in Houston and their arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is uncertain.

NASA has only a handful of days any given month to launch its first lunar crew in more than half a century. Apollo 17 closed out that storied moon exploration program in 1972.