CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's long-awaited moonshot with astronauts is off until at least March because of hydrogen fuel leaks that marred the dress rehearsal of its giant new rocket.
It's the same problem that delayed the Space Launch System rocket's debut three years ago. That first test flight was grounded for months because of leaking hydrogen.
NASA announced the news Tuesday, shortly after the critical fueling test ended at Kennedy Space Center. Until the exasperating hydrogen leaks, the space agency had been targeting as soon as this weekend for humanity's first trip to the moon in more than half a century.
''As always, safety remains our top priority,'' NASA's new administrator Jared Isaacman said via X. ''We will only launch when we believe we are as ready to undertake this historic mission.''
Officials said the monthlong delay will allow the launch team to conduct another fueling test before committing the four astronauts — three U.S. and one Canadian — to a lunar fly-around.
The leaks cropped up early in Monday's loading operation and again hours later, ultimately halting the countdown clocks at the five-minute mark. Launch controllers had wanted to get all the way down to a half-minute in the countdown.
NASA interrupted the flow of hydrogen several times in an attempt to warm up the area between the rocket and fuel lines and, hopefully, reseat any loose seals. But that didn't work and neither did altering the flow of the hydrogen — adjustments that allowed the first SLS rocket to finally soar without a crew in 2022.
With their launch now off until at least March 6, commander Reid Wiseman and his crew were given the all-clear to emerge from quarantine in Houston. They will reenter it two weeks before the next launch attempt.
