No Go: Despite the NASA slogan of affirmation “We are going,” the Artemis rocket made for going to the moon didn’t go yesterday. Crowds of disappointed people who had come to see the launch from land and sea were left disappointed.

  The flaw that stopped the launch was in a liquid hydrogen line that did not adequately chill one of the rocket’s four core-stage engines as part of the pre-ignition sequence. It created the risk of  supercooled propellants cracking metal engine parts.

  The target launch time was 8:33 am and the mission was scratched by 8:40. A new launch date will have to be set for the program that is years behind schedule and has already cost $40 billion. If it doesn’t launch in a few days, the rocket will have to be rolled back into its shelter and the delay will be longer.

  NASA has not shot for the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972. “This is a brand-new rocket,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said at a news conference later in the day. “It’s not going to fly until it’s ready.”

Trump World: A Georgia judge has ruled that Gov. Brian Kemp must appear before the special grand jury investigating election interference by former President Donald Trump and his high-powered supporters,  but will not make him show up until after the November 8th election.

  Kemp, who’s running for a second term, does not appear to have been part of the effort to throw the 2020 election back to Trump. The governor resisted Trump’s pressure in December 2020 to convene the state Legislature in order to appoint pro-Trump electors from Georgia after he had lost the state to Joe Biden. 

  Even so, Kemp is fighting the subpoena with his lawyers arguing it was issued for “for improper political purposes.”

  Having enraged Trump for refusing to help throw the election, Kemp lost the former president’s endorsement in the Republican primary, although he survived. Now he’s up against the formidable Democrat Stacey Abrams in November.

  While the Justice Department contemplates who to charge, if anyone, for election meddling,  South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Fox News, “If they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information … there literally will be riots in the street. I worry about our country.”

The War Zone: After weeks of stalemate, Ukrainian troops wielding Western weapons have mounted a long-awaited counter-offensive to retake territory in the south of the country.

  Moscow immediately claimed the new offensive had failed and that the Ukrainians suffered significant casualties. A Ukrainian spokeswoman said their attacks had “unquestionably weakened the enemy.”

Getting Warmer: Findings published in the journal Nature Climate Change project  that even if global climate warming stops today, 3.3 percent of the Greenland ice sheet will melt — roughly 110 trilliontons of ice triggering nearly a foot of rise in sea-level. 

  Researchers did not nail down a timeline for this to happen, but said much of it would be between now and 2100.

  Sea levels rising by a foot would cause more frequent and damaging flooding along coastlines. Low lying countries, like Bangladesh, would have severe trouble.

Advantage, Serena: In the last tournament of her career, tennis great Serena Williams beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, 6-3, 6-3, at the US Open.

  The match was followed by a tribute to Williams that had obviously been planned in case she lost. It would have been the last match of her career.  But Williams survived the night and the 23-time Grand Slam winner is playing for just one more.

  “I absolutely love being out there,” Williams said in an interview before the celebrity-studded crowd. “The more tournaments I play, the more I feel I can belong out there.”

  Tomorrow night she faces No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

The Spin Rack: The administration at Northwest High School in Grand Island, Nebraska shut down its 54-year-old student newspaper after the final issue in June was dedicated to LGBTQ matters. The superintendent of schools told the local newspaper it was an “administrative” decision. — Federal prosecutors are asking for a 17 ½ year sentence for former NY cop Thomas Webster for his conviction on six counts in the Capitol riot. Among other violent acts, Webster was caught on video trying to gouge the eyes of a Capitol police officer. Webster has asked for leniency claiming he was misled about the 2020 election by Donald Trump. — British-born rocker Ozzy Osbourne says he’s moving from Los Angeles back to his home country because the US has become so violent and dangerous. — The last member of an indigenous Brazilian tribe who lived deep in the jungle has died, Brazilian authorities say. The man had resisted all efforts to make contact, although he was occasionally given supplies.

Bare Faced Beauty: Melisa Raouf of South London won a special “bare-face” round of the Miss England competition last week and says she plans to continue in the finals without painting her face. 

  “It’s ok to wear makeup to enhance your looks or for special occasions, but it shouldn’t define us. It’s about the choice,” Raouf said. “I wanted to prove we don’t have to wear make-up if we don’t want to.”

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