Second bid to launch rocket to the moon is abandoned

NASA failed to launch its Artemis moon rocket for the second time yesterday.

The test launch was aborted at 4.22pm after controllers were unable to stop a hydrogen leak on the US space agency’s most powerful rocket in 50 years.

Nasa first tried to launch the rocket, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), last Monday but stopped because controllers were not confident its four big engines were sufficiently prepared.

The agency now has another opportunity for a launch attempt tomorrow or on Tuesday.

Sian Cleaver, a British engineer who worked on the rocket and was at the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are all disappointed… [but] this is quite normal in the space industry. Third time lucky.’

The test mission, controlled from the ground, had no people on board but the plan is to fly toys including Snoopy and Shaun the Sheep almost 311,000 miles (500,000km) from Earth.

Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said the rocket’s future plans with a human crew meant extreme care was required.