Artemis 1, today's unmanned test flight to the moon, did not fly during this morning's two-hour launch window. Why? Leaks and a possible crack. (And storms rolled in anyway.)
As precious minutes ticked away Monday morning, NASA repeatedly stopped and started the fueling of the Space Launch System rocket because of a leak of highly explosive hydrogen, eventually succeeding in reducing the seepage to acceptable levels. The leak happened in the same place that saw seepage during a dress rehearsal in the spring. … "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," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
It's Nasa's biggest rocket ever; the slightest error could be catastrophic to both the vessel and the public's stomach for returning humans to the moon.
