Space: another false start for Artémis

Before going to the Moon, the mega-rocket will have to keep its feet on Earth. After a first failed attempt at the start of the week, the launch of the Artemis spacecraft was again postponed to Saturday, September 3. This time, the cause is a fuel leak detected at the foot of the rocket when filling the tanks. NASA preferred not to take any risks.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet wanted to put this new NASA failure into perspective. “Eleven space shuttles had to leave the launch pad to return to the hangar, and two of them did so twice in a row… Artemis, for a first mission, is no exception”, he reacted on Twitter. This delayed launch will not affect NASA’s goal of establishing a lasting human presence on the moon, more than 50 years after setting foot there.