The US space agency NASA has postponed the moon mission Artemis I again. This time due to a hydrogen leak in the engine area.
The mission was called at 11:17 a.m. ET, three hours before the start of the launch window. The start was scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
The hydrogen leak was spotted at 7:15 a.m. ET Saturday, and station engineers attempted but failed to fix the fuel leak. The leak prevented the launch team from filling the liquid hydrogen tank despite multiple attempts.
This was the second time in a week that NASA was forced to halt launch due to technical problems.
Earlier Monday, the center’s engineers were unable to cool down the four RS-25 engines, with one engine showing higher temperatures than the other engines.
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After several attempts to solve the problem, the mission was aborted.
According to NASA, there will be another launch attempt on either September 5 or 6.
The Artemis I stack includes the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. It remains on Launchpad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA intends to send the SLS and the Orion crew capsule around the moon. After the successful launch, the Orion will travel into space for about six weeks before returning and landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis aims to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, with crews spending weeks at a time on the celestial body.
Photo: NASA HQ PHOTO on flickr
