MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — Humans have not stepped foot on the moon for the past 50 years, but the first launch in the plan to return in the future were delayed by a few days.
NASA was scheduled to mark the historic process of getting astronauts back to the moon with the Monday launch of unmanned Artemis 1 rocket, but the mission has been postponed because of a malfunctioning engine on the rocket.
The historic liftoff marks the launch of the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built.
The plan is for the space launch system rocket to travel about 1.3 million miles over the course of 42 days.
Maine-native and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir said this test flight, which is now scheduled to happen Sept. 2, is the last piece of the puzzle before the team of scientists can put humans on board to head back to the moon.
The goal of Artemis 1 is to test the safety and reliability of the rocket.
NEWS CENTER Maine's Hannah Yechivi asked Meir what it would mean to her if she were to be chosen as be the first woman to step on the moon.
"Absolutely. I don't think there is anybody in our office that would turn down that opportunity if it were offered to us," Meir said. "It's incredibly exciting to even think about the possibility that that might come true in years to come. And even if its not me, just knowing that I will be involved in the program somewhere on the ground supporting my friends and colleagues as we all continue to explore together, it is just all of our dreams come true."
Meir said she has been busy working with the NASA team to make sure these missions happen.
"Right now my job on the ground is working with the human landing system, the HLS program, and that is the lander that Space X is actually building for us right now to land on the moon," Meir said. "So the rocket that's launching, the space launch system and the Orion that's launching here on Monday, we will use that to send astronauts to space for Artemis 2, and Artemis 3 will use the same rocket capsule, and then we will have this lander built by Space X to bring us from the vehicle down to the surface of the moon, so I am really working with this program everyday here on the ground."
If all goes according to plan, astronauts should be back on the moon on another Artemis mission by 2024.
NASA officials say some of the reasons they are hoping to go back is because there's a lot of science work to be done on the moon, and it's a stepping stone to Mars.