due to a fuel leak

NASA cancels second attempt to launch a rocket to the moon

NASA canceled the first launch attempt last week due to technical issues.

archival

Yesterday, for the second time in five days, the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) stopped the countdown and postponed a planned attempt to launch a new-generation giant rocket in the first mission of its program (Artemis), which is scheduled to include flights from the moon to Mars.

The cancellation of the latest attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket, which is equivalent to the length of a 32-storey building, with the Orion capsule from Cape Canaveral, Florida, came after repeated attempts by technicians to repair a leak of supercooled liquid hydrogen fuel, which is pumped into the fuel-stage tanks. basic vehicle.

Attempts to address the leak also caused task managers to delay the countdown, leaving insufficient time to complete pre-launch preparations before takeoff.

The launch was canceled about three hours ahead of schedule.

There was no immediate comment on the date of the re-launch attempt, but NASA may set a date for another attempt.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said mission managers will meet at a later time to discuss the future launch opportunity, adding that there is an opportunity to return the rocket to the assembly building for further repairs.

If that happens, he added during an online interview in a NASA broadcast, the next launch attempt will be postponed until October.

"Engineers continue to collect additional data," NASA said in a separate statement.

The first launch attempt last week was called off due to technical issues that NASA officials said were resolved to their satisfaction.

It is noteworthy that launch day delays and related technical obstacles are common with new rockets, such as the NASA (Space Launch System) rocket, which is a complex rocket that requires a set of pre-launch procedures, which are not fully tested and trained on. Engineers accepted without any obstruction.

The launch of the rocket would mark the start of the Artemis program of flights from the moon to Mars, which NASA boasts, and which will succeed the Apollo program missions to the moon in the sixties and seventies.

For the second time in 5 days, NASA stopped the launch of a giant rocket the length of a 32-storey building.

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