NASA hopes to fix Artemis II moon rocket leak with on-pad repair

NASA plans an on-pad repair of the fuel leak that derailed an overnight dress rehearsal countdown for the agency's huge Artemis II rocket. The agency then plans a second fueling test before making another attempt in March to launch four astronauts on a historic flight around the moon.

"We are still in the process of assessing the data that we collected yesterday and developing the (repair) plan," said Lori Glaze, a senior manager in NASA's Exploration Systems Development office. "We do believe...at this point that the work that's in front of us can be conducted out at the pad, and that's what we anticipate."

With a February launch ruled out and the moonshot now on hold until March at the earliest, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen ended a pre-flight medical quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Tuesday.