Nasa Artemis mission put back to November following Hurricane Ian

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Hurricane Ian delayed the launch of the rocket last week

There has already been several false starts for Nasa's Artemis I Moon mission - and now its launch is set to be pushed back until November.

Most recently, it had been due to take to the air on 27 September but that was put off due to Hurricane Ian.

That was because the space centre where the rocket was due to take off is in Florida where the hurricane hit, leaving millions without power.

Now Nasa say they hope to launch it between 12 and 27 November.

Image source, NASA

By the time the hurricane reached the area where Nasa is based, it had weakened to a tropical storm but these were still not suitable weather conditions.

Nasa also carried out an inspection to try to find out if the hurricane had done any damage to Artemis' hardware.

The only issue was that a small amount of water had been able to enter in a few locations.

It had been thought that if the rocket had not launched by 5 October, the next window would run from 17-31 October but Nasa has now decided against this.

The space agency said that putting the launch back until November "allows time for employees at Kennedy to address the needs of their families and homes after the storm and for teams to identify additional checkouts needed before returning to the pad for launch".

How much do we know about the mission, and what's been happening?

Image source, NASA

Image caption, The upper-stage of the rocket will put the capsule on a path to the Moon

Even before the hurricane hit, the launch of the rocket had already been postponed twice, first in August because of a fault and then in early September due to a fuel leak.

The rocket, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), is the biggest rocket ever developed by Nasa. It will be used to send astronauts back to the Moon.

The first flight, part of Nasa's Artemis programme, is just a demonstration with no-one on board.

Image source, Twitter/ESA

Image caption, Shaun the Sheep will be joining Nasa's moon mission and going into space on Artemis 1!

It wants to send an unmanned capsule around the back of the Moon, and then if this is successful make plans to send humans aboard.

It's part of the space agency's big plans to send equipment back to the Moon after an absence of 50 years.

Nasa hopes that by 2025 it will be able to send astronauts back to the lunar surface.