Artemis I launch updates: Saturday launch scrubbed after reoccurring liquid hydrogen leak
It comes after the launch was scrubbed Monday due to an engine problem.
NASA kicked off Monday its plan to send an unmanned space capsule into the moon’s orbit, marking the initial launch in an ambitious plan to establish a long term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development.
The space capsule, called Artemis I, will travel for roughly 40 days -- reaching as close as 60 miles from the moon, and then 40,000 miles above the moon when orbiting over its dark side -- before landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
After the launch was scrubbed, the next attempt will occur Sept. 3.
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Saturday's launch scrubbed
The launch director has officially decided to scrub the launch scheduled for Saturday afternoon after NASA engineers detected several liquid hydrogen leaks.
NASA engineers encountered the leak while loading the propellant into the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket.
Multiple troubleshooting efforts to address the area of the leak did not fix the issue. NASA said engineers are continuing to gather additional data.
NASA has not yet said when it plans to make another launch attempt.
-ABC News' Gio Benitez
Liquid hydrogen leak detected for the 4th time
NASA engineers have detected a liquid hydrogen leak for the fourth time, despite three attempts to troubleshoot the leak. NASA said its teams are now discussing next steps.
A third leak occurred earlier in a cavity between the ground and flight side plates of a quick disconnect in the engine section. They attempted to warm up the quick disconnect to try to reset the seal then began flowing liquid hydrogen to the core stage.
NASA said the liquid oxygen tank of the core stage is full and is being replenished as some of the super-cooled propellant boils off.
NASA troubleshooting reoccurrence of liquid hydrogen leak
NASA engineers said they will stop the flowing liquid hydrogen into the tank after they detected the reoccurrence of a leak Saturday. They will close the valve used to fill and drain it, then increase pressure on a ground transfer line using helium to try to reseal it.
A leak reoccured as engineers increased the pressure on the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage, NASA said.
Engineers will attempt to reseat the seal in the quick disconnect cavity where the leak was detected. The flow of liquid oxygen to the core stage will continue, NASA said.
Artemis I launch on track after engineers detect a liquid leak
Launch control gave an order for fuel loading operations for Artemis I to begin Saturday morning, ahead of the scheduled launch window.
Over the next few hours 760,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen will be loaded into the Space Launch System (SLS) tank.
Engineers detected a liquid hydrogen leak in a quick disconnect cavity and stopped flowing the propellant to the core stage while they troubleshot, NASA had said earlier.
Launch controllers have resumed the flow of liquid hydrogen to the core stage.
-ABC News' Gina Sunseri
'We don't launch until it's right,' says NASA administrator
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson defended the scrubbing of the Artemis I launch, saying the launch shouldn't take place until the team is sure it's ready.
"We don't launch until it's right," he said during an interview on NASA TV Monday morning.
"There are certain guidelines. And I think it's just illustrative that this is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work, and you don't want to light the candle until it's ready to go."
Nelson said the engineers will continue to "stress" and "test" the rocket to make sure it's ready by the next attempt, which is Sept. 2.
Earlier in the day, Nelson had welcomed several Biden administration officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, to the Kennedy Space Center ahead of the launch.
He said the vice president has been briefed and the White House will continue to receive regular updates.