Cape Carnival: The American Space Agency (NASA) postponed the launch of its powerful new moon rocket today due to fuel leaking during preparations for the final lift off and then engine problems. This was to be the first flight of this rocket to send it to the Moon and it also conducted three dummy tests abroad.
Now the next launch cannot be attempted before Friday and may be delayed till next month. The flight, when possible, will be the first launch of NASA’s Project Artemis, part of an effort to send astronauts back to the moon decades later. A leak of hydrogen, which is used as fuel in the rocket, occurred in the precious moments of the launch this morning. A similar mistake also happened during the rehearsal of this rocket in the spring season. Also, attempts to shut down one of the rocket’s four engines were unsuccessful and continued to run. The rocket was supposed to put a capsule with astronauts into orbit around the Moon, returning to Earth from Splashdown in October after a six-week mission.
At 322 feet, it is the largest rocket ever built by NASA, surpassing the Saturn-P rocket that carried the Apollo astronauts to the moon. In response to the question of when the launch of this rocket can be done, Nasa’s launch commander Darrol Nail said that the engineers are still analyzing the engine problem and will have to wait for the test data.