After a failed attempt earlier this week, NASA has once again postponed the launch of the Artemis 1 Moon mission. The agency was forced to cancel Saturday’s launch after Kennedy Space Center officials were unable to fix a persistent leak at the liquid hydrogen junction on the next-generation superheavy rocket Space Launch System.
NASA spotted the leak at 7:23 a.m. ET and attempted to fix the problem in several different ways. After three failed attempts, ground personnel recommended abandoning Saturday’s launch attempt. Monday’s launch attempt was aborted after one of the four SLS elements failed to reach the temperature necessary to send Artemis 1 into space.
“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 reported on Twitter.
If NASA can fix the leak at Launch Pad 39B, the agency will have one last window to attempt a launch before a serious delay becomes inevitable. If the launch fails by Sept. 5, NASA will have to return the SLS to the Kennedy Space Center Assembly Building to test the rocket’s termination system. In that case, the earliest launch of Artemis 1 could be Sept. 19, but a launch in October is more likely.
