Fuel leak ruins NASA’s second shot at launching moon rocket

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — NASA's new moon rocket sprang another dangerous fuel leak Saturday, forcing launch controllers to call off their second attempt to send a crew capsule into lunar orbit with test dummies.

The first attempt earlier in the week was also marred by escaping hydrogen, but those leaks were elsewhere on the 322-foot rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said repair work could bump the launch into October.

Mission managers planned to meet later in the day to decide on a course of action. After Tuesday, a two-week launch blackout period kicks in.

Extensive leak inspections and repairs, meanwhile, could require that the rocket be hauled off the pad and back into the hangar; that would push the flight into October, Nelson said.

“We'll go when it's ready. We don't go until then and especially now on a test flight, because we're going to stress this and test it ... and make sure it's right before we put four humans up on the top of it,” Nelson said.

He added: “This is part of our space program: Be ready for the scrubs.”

NASA wants to send the crew capsule atop the rocket around the moon, pushing it to the limit before astronauts get on the next flight.

the five-week demo with test dummies succeeds, astronauts could fly around the moon in 2024 and land on it in 2025.

People last walked on the moon 50 years ago.

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