CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s moon that is new sprang another dangerous fuel leak Saturday, forcing launch controllers to call off their second attempt this week to send a crew capsule into lunar orbit with test dummies. The flight that is inaugural now off for at the very least a couple weeks, if you don’t months.
The previous put on Monday at launching the(98-meter that is 322-foot Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA, was also troubled by hydrogen leaks, though they were smaller. That was on top of leaks detected during countdown drills earlier in the year.
After the setback that is latest, mission managers chose to haul the rocket from the pad and in to the hangar for further repairs and system updates. A number of the ongoing work and testing may be performed at the pad before the rocket is moved.
With A launch that is two-week period looming in a few days, the rocket has become grounded until later this month as well as October. NASA is going to work around a high-priority SpaceX astronaut flight to your International Space Station scheduled for early October.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stressed that safety may be the main priority, especially for a test flight similar to this where everyone would like to verify the rocket’s systems it.”
“Just“before we put four humans up on the top of remember: We’re not going to launch he said.
NASA until it’s right already happens to be years that are waiting send the crew capsule atop the rocket around the moon. If the demo that is six-week, astronauts could fly across the moon in 2024 and land onto it in 2025. People last walked from the moon 50 years back.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson along with her team had barely started loading nearly 1 million gallons of fuel in to the Space Launch System rocket at daybreak once the leak that is large up in the engine section at the bottom.
Ground controllers tried to plug it the way they handled previous leaks: stopping and restarting the flow of super-cold hydrogen that is liquid hopes of closing the gap around a seal when you look at the supply line. They tried that twice, in reality, and in addition flushed helium through the line. Nevertheless the leak persisted.
Blackwell-Thompson finally halted the countdown after 3 to 4 hours of futile efforts.
Mission manager Mike Sarafin told journalists it absolutely was prematurily . to share with what caused the leak, nonetheless it might have been because of inadvertent over-pressurization for the hydrogen line earlier when you look at the morning when commands were provided for the valve that is wrong
“This was not a leak that is manageable” Sarafin said.
During Monday’s attempt, a number of smaller, unrelated hydrogen leaks popped up within the rocket. Technicians tightened within the fittings on the days that are following but Blackwell-Thompson had cautioned that she wouldn’t know whether everything was tight until Saturday’s fueling.
Hydrogen Molecules are exceedingly small — the smallest in existence — and even the gap that is tiniest or crevice can offer a way to avoid it. NASA’s space shuttles, now retired, were affected by hydrogen leaks. The moon that is new uses the same type of main engines.
Even more of a problem Monday, a sensor indicated one of the rocket’s four engines was too warm, but engineers later verified it actually was cold enough. The launch team planned to ignore the faulty sensor this time around and rely on other instruments to ensure each engine that is main properly chilled. Nevertheless the countdown never got that far.
Mission managers accepted the risk that is additional by the engine issue as well as a separate problem: cracks in the rocket’s insulating foam. But they acknowledged other trouble — like fuel leaks — could prompt yet another delay.
That didn’t stop thousands of people from jamming the coast hoping to see the Space Launch System rocket soar. Local authorities expected massive crowds because of the Labor Day weekend that is long
The $4.1 billion test flight may be the step that is first NASA’s Artemis program of renewed lunar exploration, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.
Years behind schedule and billions over budget, Artemis aims to establish a sustained presence that is human the moon, with crews eventually spending weeks in a time there. It’s considered an exercise ground for Mars.
Twelve astronauts walked from the moon throughout the Apollo program, the time that is last 1972.
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