NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B, on August 29, 2022.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
The second launch attempt for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket was delayed Saturday due to a liquid hydrogen leak.
Artemis I is an uncrewed test flight that will set the stage for future Artemis missions with astronauts.
NASA has not yet said when it plans to make another launch attempt.
NASA’s long overdue Artemis I moon rocket launch was postponed Saturday, after the launch team encountered fueling issues.
At 7:15 a.m. ET, a leak occurred as engineers increased the pressure on the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage.
“Teams encountered a liquid hydrogen leak while loading the propellant into the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket,” NASA said in a blog post. “Multiple troubleshooting efforts to address the area of the leak by reseating a seal in the quick disconnect where liquid hydrogen is fed into the rocket did not fix the issue.”
After attempts to troubleshoot were unsuccessful, Artemis’ launch director called off the launch.
NASA has not yet said when it plans to make another launch attempt.
This is the second scrub — NASA’s term for calling off a launch on a specific day — for the mega moon rocket. During NASA’s first launch attempt on August 29, sensors suggested one of the rocket’s four core stage RS-25 engines wasn’t cooling down to a safe temperature in time for launch.
Invited guests and NASA employees watch as NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building, August 16, 2022.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
The rocket stack might be rolled back into the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, causing further delays. In August, NASA engineers tested the rocket’s flight termination system, which began a 20-day timeline for launching. If the launch is delayed beyond those 20 days, engineers will have to roll back the rocket for additional testing, Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems, said at a Friday press briefing.
NASA engineers also contend with weather, a common cause of launch delays. The forecast prior to Saturday’s attempt showed 60% favorable weather conditions at the beginning of the launch window. “On any given day, there’s about a one in three chance that we will scrub for any reason,” Melody Levin, a meteorologist at NASA, said at a briefing on Friday, September 2. “Out of those chances of scrubbing, there’s a 50% chance that it’s due to weather,” Levin said.
More than 400,000 visitors were expected to gather near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday to view the inaugural launch, according to the Space Coast’s tourism office.
NASA’s Artemis I rocket sits on launch pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center on September 03, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the SLS rocket and its Orion spaceship, according to The Planetary Society.
During the Artemis I mission, NASA aims to fly the Orion crew capsule all the way around the moon — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown — before heading back for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
There won’t be people on board during the Artemis I launch. But if the spaceship successfully completes its mission, NASA plans to put astronauts in the Orion module for another trip around the moon, during the Artemis II mission. It’s all in preparation for Artemis III, in which NASA hopes to land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface in 2025.