Rollout of NASA's new moon rocket to launch pad delayed at least a month

The massive Vehicle Assembly Building where NASA’s powerful new 322-foot-tall moon rocket has been assembled for the unpiloted Artemis 1 mission, is reflected after a hard rain at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Thom Baur/Files

(Reuters) - The highly anticipated rollout of NASA's big new moon rocket to its launch pad in Florida for final tests before a first flight has been delayed by at least a month, until March at the earliest, the U.S. space agency said on Wednesday.

NASA, which late last year had targeted liftoff this month for its uncrewed Artemis 1 mission around the moon and back, declined to set a revised launch date, but the delay would preclude a flight before April.