FLORIDA: NASA has abandoned an effort to launch its massive, next-generation rocketship for the second time in a week, citing a persistent fuel leak that the space agency said may push back the launch of its moon-to-Mars Artemis programme by at least several weeks.
About three hours before the scheduled 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT) liftoff time for the 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and its Orion capsule from Cape Canaveral, Florida, preflight procedures were suspended for the day.
The unmanned test mission, intended to send the capsule to the moon and back, was to serve as the SLS’s first journey.
