NASA wraps up moon rocket test; to set launch date after fix

NASA says it has finished testing its huge moon rocket

NASA Moon Rocket (NASA)

NASA said Thursday it has finished testing its huge moon rocket and will move it back to the launch pad in late August.

A date for the first flight will be set after a leak that popped up during a dress rehearsal is fixed, the space agency said.

Earlier this week, NASA fueled the 30-story Space Launch System rocket for the first time and pressed ahead with a critical countdown test despite a fuel line leak. Previous attempts were foiled by technical issues.

No one will be on board the debut launch that will hurl the Orion crew capsule atop the rocket to the moon and back. The initial flight will be followed by astronauts in 2024, looping around the moon and back. The third mission would attempt to land astronauts on the moon no earlier than 2025, more than a half-century after NASA’s Apollo moonshots.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.