NASA targets March launch of moon rocket after test run reveals fuel leaks

NASA said on Tuesday it will now target a March launch of its new moon rocket after running into exasperating fuel leaks during a make-or-break test a day earlier. The space agency said in a statement that the launch delay will “allow teams to review data and conduct a second wet dress rehearsal” before the flight test.

The leaks - reminiscent of the rocket’s delayed debut three years ago - sprang just a couple hours into the daylong fueling operation Monday at Kennedy Space Centre and called into question how soon astronauts could take off.

NASA said the four astronauts tasked for the flight will be moved out of their nearly two-week quarantine. NASA added that they will enter quarantine again “about two weeks” before the next launch window for the trip around the moon.

The agency gave no indication of an official launch target in March, saying teams need to first “fully review data from the test, mitigate each issue, and return to testing.” Launch controllers on Monday began loading the 322-foot (98-metres) rocket with super-cold hydrogen and oxygen at midday. More than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million litres) had to flow into the tanks and remain on board for several hours, mimicking the final stages of an actual countdown.

But excessive hydrogen quickly built up near the bottom of the rocket. Hydrogen loading was halted at least twice as the launch team scrambled to work around the problem using techniques developed during the previous Space Launch System countdown in 2022.

That first test flight was plagued by hydrogen leaks before finally soaring without a crew. NASA also noted in its statement that delays were incurred in close-out operations during the test, as well as recurring audio dropout issues for ground crew communications.

The four astronauts assigned to the mission — three Americans and one Canadian — monitored the critical dress rehearsal from nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) away in Houston, home to the Johnson Space Centre. The space agency only has a few days in any given month to launch the rocket, and the extreme cold had shortened February’s launch window by two days.

Running behind because of the bitter cold snap, the countdown clocks began ticking Saturday night, giving launch controllers the chance to go through all the motions and deal with any lingering rocket problems.

The clocks were set to stop a half-minute before reaching zero, just before engine ignition. The nearly 10-day mission will send the astronauts past the moon, around the mysterious far side and then straight back to Earth, with the goal of testing the capsule’s life support and other vital systems. The crew will not go into lunar orbit or attempt to land.

NASA last sent astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s Apollo program. The new Artemis program aims for a more sustained lunar presence, with Wiseman’s crew setting the stage for future moon landings by other astronauts.