NASA has postponed until Monday the launch from Cape Canaveral (Florida) of the unmanned lunar mission Artemis I due to a fuel leak, as confirmed by the agency on its social networks. This is the second postponement of the mission for technical reasons within five days. The objective of this mission, which aims to pave the way for US astronauts to return to the Moon, is to test the capabilities of the powerful SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, 98 meters high, and the ship Orion, with capacity for four astronauts. “Teams found a liquid hydrogen leak while loading propellant into the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket,” NASA explained. “Multiple efforts” to fix the problem by repositioning the seal were unsuccessful, as fuel was pumped back into the rocket, so “the launch director canceled the Artemis I launch attempt scheduled for today.” , the space agency said in a message on the Artemis I mission website. “The #Artemis I mission to the Moon has been postponed. Teams attempted to fix an issue related to a leak in the hardware transferring fuel into the rocket, but were unsuccessful. Join NASA leaders later today for a news conference. Check for updates: https://t.co/6LVDrA1toy pic.twitter.com/LgXnjCy40u“ — NASA (@NASA) September 3, 2022 The start of the mission could be delayed until October NASA has announced that the start of the mission will not it will not take place this Monday or Tuesday but later on a date to be determined early next week. “Most likely, it will be after the departure of the Crew-5 mission, which means in the second half of October,” said the US space agency. “Safety is at the top of the list,” said the NASA administrator Bill Nelson, who has played down the importance of the suspension of this Saturday’s launch, saying that failed attempts are part of space programs. Nelson stressed at the press conference that the mission is not going to start “until that everything is not fine” and that it is ruled out to do so in this launch period, whose last date is this Tuesday. The next period begins on September 19, but the most likely is the one that begins on October 17. The NASA officials who accompanied Nelson at the press conference, Jim Free and Mike Sarafin, have said that they have not yet It is decided whether the SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft at the tip will be checked on the launch pad or if it will be taken to the vehicle assembly building at the Cape Canaveral space complex. As happened on August 29, when it was necessary to cancel a first attempt due to a failure in one of the SLS’s four RS-25 engines, the so-called “Space Coast” was packed with visitors eager to watch the launch. According to local media, some 400,000 people have moved to the base area and the Kennedy Space Center. A six-week mission The SLS rocket, at a cost of 4.1 billion dollars, will put the Orion spacecraft into space for a mission of 37 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes, a period in which, taking out the trips to and from return, the Orion spacecraft will be orbiting the Moon. Once it leaves lunar orbit, Orion, the most powerful spacecraft ever built, capable of reaching a speed of 24.5 billion miles per hour (39,428 km/h), will undertake the return trip. After entering the Earth’s atmosphere again, it will fall into the Pacific Ocean, west of San Diego (southern California). By the time Orion returns to Earth, it will have traveled 1.3 million miles (more than two million kilometers). NASA has two more Artemis missions planned. The second will be a manned trip to the Moon and the third will put the first crew in more than 50 years on the surface of the Earth’s satellite. The third will be the first woman and the first person of color to travel to the Moon. NASA’s Apollo 17 mission, launched in December 1972, was the last in which American astronauts traveled to the Moon and walked on its surface. .Man first set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969 during NASA’s historic Apollo XI mission. The Saturn V rocket, with the Eagle spacecraft at its tip, took off from Cape Canaveral four days earlier with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin as crew members.