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ARTEMIS II.

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The manned mission to the moon has been postponed until March, after fuel leak tests have been halted today

"We will launch only when we believe we are ready to undertake this historic mission," said NASA Chief Jared Isaacman, adding that the team will "thoroughly" review the data, "solve every problem detected," make the necessary arrangements, and return to the tests.

Nasa Artemis II ilargia
Artemis II rocket on launch platform. Photo: NASA

NASAwillpostpone the first mission to the Moon to send petsones after 50 years, as fuel leaks have been detected in today's general test. In the countdown and five minutes before the rocket launch, the test has been halted by filling the tanks of the Space Launch System (SLS) for permanent fuel leakage. 

"At the end of this trial, we cancel the launch options for February and, even earlier, it will hit March to launch the Artemis II,"NASA Chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday in a message posted on the X social network. 

As he explained, during the general  trial, the equipment detected a liquid hydrogen leak at the central stage interface while the tanks were filling up, forcing them to take steps to heat the hardware and adjust the propellant flow. 

"All tanks at the central and provisional cryogenic propulsion stage have been successfully filled, and the team has begun a recount of about 5 minutes until the ground launch sequencer has stopped the operation due to an increase in the leak rate," said the NASA official.

"As usual, security is our top priority, astronauts, workers, systems and viewers. As we said earlier,  "We will launch only when we think we are ready to undertake this historic mission," Isaacman said. 

He added that the team will "thoroughly" review the data, "solve each of the problems identified", make the necessary repairs and return to the tests. "The idea is to do another general rehearsal and then focus on the launch options in March. We will continue to provide up-to-date information to society and the media as the preparation progresses," he stressed. 

Jared Isaacman has stressed that "this is only the beginning" and that US President Donald Trump's "national space policy sets the course for the Artemis program that will be developed to achieve accessible and repeated missions to the Moon." 

 

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