NASA said it needs to replace hydrogen-fueling equipment on its new moon rocket after scrubbing the launch for the second time in a week, a decision that means the spaceship won’t fly until at least late September.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director for the Artemis I mission, called off Saturday’s flight at about 11:17am, three hours before the scheduled launch window was to begin. A leak in equipment transferring hydrogen fuel prevented NASA engineers from fully loading the rocket. A similar leak was one of several issues that led to the postponement of the earlier attempt on Aug. 29.
Engineers also will likely need to do work on the SLS’s flight termination system — the equipment used to destroy the rocket if it deviates off course — which takes time and needs to be done at the VAB. That means that even if NASA can replace the hardware at the pad, the rocket will most likely have to return to the hangar for that work before it can fly again.
Additionally, NASA and SpaceX, the company run by billionaire Elon Musk, are set to fly another crew of astronauts to the International Space Station in early October, which could conflict with another launch attempt.
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