China News Agency, San Francisco, September 3. On the 3rd local time, NASA's giant lunar exploration rocket "Space Launch System" was delayed again due to a fuel leak.

On September 3, local time, NASA once again announced the postponement of the launch of the new-generation lunar rocket "Space Launch System".

According to reports, this is the second time in a week that NASA has canceled a lunar rocket launch plan.

　　The "Space Launch System" rocket carrying the "Orion" spacecraft was originally scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 14:17 on the 3rd US Eastern Time to perform the "Artemis 1" unmanned flight test around the moon Task.

The Associated Press reported that a serious fuel leak occurred in the engine area at the bottom of the rocket when crews started loading fuel that day.

After three or four hours of trying, the issue is still not resolved.

NASA then called off the launch plan, about three hours before the scheduled launch time.

　　After the Space Launch System rocket malfunctioned, the crew decided to drag it from the launch pad back to the assembly building for further repairs and system updates.

Staff will decide early next week when the rocket will launch again, but it won't lift off for at least a few weeks, CNN reported.

　　In NASA's earlier plan, the earliest launch date of the "Space Launch System" rocket was 8:33 on August 29, and the other two backup launch times were at 12:48 on September 2 and 17:00 on September 5. 12 points.

On August 29, a problem with the exhaust of one of the rocket's engines prevented the engine from reaching the temperature range suitable for launch.

The day's rocket launch had to be called off because it was too late to fix the fault within the two-hour launch window.

　　In the early morning of August 29, before the rocket engine exhaust problem was discovered, staff also reported a fuel leak, which caused the refueling process to be suspended twice.

The rocket suffered a fuel leak at the same location during testing this spring.

　　The U.S. government announced in 2019 a new lunar mission called Artemis, which plans to send astronauts to the moon again by 2024.

But the mission had to be postponed several times due to factors such as insufficient budget, technical glitches, legal disputes and the new crown epidemic.

In the "Artemis 1" mission, the "Orion" spacecraft will complete an unmanned flight around the moon.

If the "Artemis 1" mission is successfully completed, NASA plans to conduct the "Artemis 2" mission in 2024, when four astronauts will fly around the moon.

The "Artemis 3" mission will be completed in 2025 or 2026, NASA plans to send the first woman and the first minority to the moon.

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