NASA’s second attempt to launch the Artemis I was disrupted by a hazardous fuel leak as the teams rushed to fix the issue. Read to know more.
As the launch team started fueling the National Aeronautics and Space Administration‘s (NASA) new moon rocket for liftoff on a test trip that must go smoothly before astronauts climb onboard, the rocket sprung another potentially dangerous leak on Saturday.
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket, the most powerful ever created by NASA, is being filled with roughly 1 million gallons of fuel for the second time this week. The attempt on Monday was unsuccessful due to a faulty engine sensor and fuel leak.
“The #Artemis I mission to the Moon has been postponed. Teams attempted to fix an issue related to a leak in the hardware transferring fuel into the rocket, but were unsuccessful,” NASA tweeted.
The launch of Artemis I was delayed because of a hydrogen leak
The launch of the rocket was delayed because hydrogen fuel started leaking from the engine compartment at the bottom of the rocket while engineers rushed to cover what was thought to be a crack around a seal in the supply line.
If the five-week demonstration with test dummies is successful, astronauts could fly around the moon in 2024 and land there in 2025.
The launch is set at 2:17 PM, though it may be postponed by up to two hours if required (1817 GMT). Despite the fact that the region around the launch site will be off limits to the public, an estimated 400,000 people gathered on adjacent beaches to watch.
Jeremy Parsons, Kennedy Space Center’s deputy manager of exploration ground systems, asserts that “Our team is ready.”
According to launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, if the main engines are not as cold as the liquid hydrogen fuel flowing into them at minus-420 degrees Fahrenheit, the consequent damage could result in a sudden engine shutdown and aborted flight.
The $4.1 billion test flight is the first phase of NASA’s Artemis mission, which is named after Apollo’s mythological twin sister and aims to restart lunar exploration.
In the Apollo program, NASA saw twelve astronauts make their final moonwalk in 1972.
