Fuel leak interrupts and postpones NASA’s Artemis 1 launch

(KYMA, KECY/ NBC News) - A last minute fuel leak has interrupted NASA's countdown to launch for its new moon rocket - expected to be its biggest launch ever.

NASA has officially scrubbed Monday's launch of Artemis 1.

Engineers detected an issue with the number three engine during a bleed procedure this morning, where some of the propellant was sent to all four engines to the get them to the proper temperature for start up.

The number three engine failed to reach that temperature range.

Also, a crack in the thermal protection system material on one of the ships flanges was spotted, and will have to be examined.

According to NASA, during the transition from slow fill to fast fill of lh2, an over pressure alarm went off on the line feeding the liquid hydrogen tank, causing launch controllers to halt the fueling operation.

No astronauts were on-board the capsule, instead, three test dummies were strapped in for the lunar-orbiting missing, which is expected to last six weeks

NASA's next opportunity to launch comes on Friday, with another possible window on Monday.