The largest rocket ever built by NASA, the Artemis began leaking hazardous fuel as crews began to prepare the craft for a Saturday afternoon launch that would send it to the moon and back, but the problem could scrub the launch for a second time, the Associated Press reports.
The Artemis rocket sprung a fuel leak as crews pumped liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into its 332-foot main rocket, forcing a suspension of the operation to fix the problem. Monday’s scheduled launch was scrubbed due to a technical issue with the launch system.
The Artemis program is the US effort to put human and robotic explorers on the moon as a staging ground and testing area for technology that will eventually be used on a mission to Mars. The Artemis 1 launch would shoot an Orion capsule holding three mannequins to the moon, where they will orbit and then return to Earth.
UPDATE 9/3/2022 11:27 AM EDT: NASA officially scrapped the launch. It’s not clear when they’re going to try again as it could be at least a few weeks before both seasonal weather conditions and the position of the Moon relative to Earth make for an ideal window.