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Associated Press

Nasa’s long-awaited moon shot with astronauts is off until at least March because of hydrogen fuel leaks that marred the dress rehearsal of its giant new rocket.
It was the same problem that delayed the Space Launch System rocket’s debut three years ago. That first test flight was grounded for months because of leaking hydrogen, which is highly flammable and dangerous.
“Actually, this one caught us off guard,” Nasa’s John Honeycutt said on Tuesday, hours after the test came to an abrupt halt at Kennedy Space Centre.
Until the fuel leaks, the space agency had been targeting as soon as this weekend for humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century.

“When you’re dealing with hydrogen, it’s a small molecule. It’s highly energetic and we like it for that reason and we do the best we can,” Honeycutt explained.
Officials said the month-long delay would allow the launch team to conduct another fuelling test before committing the four astronauts - three US and one Canadian - to a lunar fly-around. It was too soon to know when the countdown dress rehearsal might be repeated.
Any repairs to deformed or damaged seals, or other components, can likely be completed at the pad, managers said. A return to the Vehicle Assembly Building would likely result in an even longer delay.
The leaks cropped up early in Monday’s loading operation and again hours later, ultimately halting the countdown clocks at the five-minute mark. Launch controllers had wanted to get all the way down to a half-minute in the countdown, but the escaping hydrogen exceeded safety limits.
Nasa repeatedly interrupted the flow of liquid hydrogen, which was minus 253 degrees Celsius (minus 423 Fahrenheit), in an attempt to warm up the area between the rocket and fuel lines and, hopefully, reseat any loose seals. But that did not work and neither did altering the flow of the hydrogen - adjustments that allowed the first SLS rocket to finally soar without a crew in 2022.
With their launch now off until at least March 6, commander Reid Wiseman and his crew were given the all-clear to emerge from quarantine in Houston. They will re-enter it two weeks before the next launch attempt.




Wiseman said on the social platform X that he was proud of how the dress rehearsal went, “especially knowing how challenging the scenario was for our launch team doing the dangerous and unforgiving work”.
The extreme cold at the launch site did not contribute to the fuel leaks or any other problem, according to officials. Heaters kept the Orion capsule warm atop the 98-metre rocket, while constant purging protected the rocket and ground systems.
Amit Kshatriya, Nasa’s associate administrator, stressed that the Space Launch System was “an experimental vehicle”, with more lessons to be learned. Years between fuelling tests and flights do not help, he added.
“I’m just reminded again almost four days and 40 years from Challenger, nobody sitting in one of these chairs needs to be calling any of these vehicles operational,” Kshatriya said at a news conference.
US President Donald Trump has made evident that he wants to send astronauts back to the moon as soon as possible, in order to “assert American leadership in space”.
Nasa has only a handful of days any given month to send them around the moon - the first time astronauts will have flown there since 1972. They will not land on the moon or even go into lunar orbit during the nearly 10-day mission, but rather check out life support and other vital capsule systems ahead of a moon landing by other astronauts in a few years.
Nasa sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s Apollo missions. The new Artemis programme was aiming for new territory - the moon’s south polar region - and looking to keep crews on the lunar surface for much longer periods.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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Four astronauts are to fly around the moon and back, but hydrogen leaks push planned launch to at least March


Four astronauts are to fly around the moon and back, but hydrogen leaks push planned launch to at least March.


As US readied next moon mission, something dangerous caught Nasa off guard

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Four astronauts are to fly around the moon and back, but hydrogen leaks push planned launch to at least March

Four astronauts are to fly around the moon and back, but hydrogen leaks push planned launch to at least March