We will have to wait a little longer to see the mega-rocket of NASA’s Artemis mission take off for the Moon. The launch was once again canceled at the last moment, this Saturday, September 3, due to a fuel leak.
With our special correspondent at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, David Thomson
It is obviously another disappointment at the Kennedy Space Center. The first launch attempt of Artemis was canceled on Monday due to an engine problem. This Saturday, a fuel leak prevented the SLS mega-rocket from taking off from its launch pad 39B.
This leak was detected during the filling of three million liters of cryogenic fuel. It is located on one of the two tanks of the mega-rocket, the liquid hydrogen tank.
NASA teams are racing against the clock to plug the leak to prevent the delay from building up and eating into the two-hour shooting window, which was to open at 2:17 p.m.
Without success: after the failure of the third repair attempt, NASA engineers ended up giving a recommendation of “No Go”.
For the second time, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson therefore made a difficult decision: no take off for the moon on this day.