NASA delays astronauts' lunar trip until March after hydrogen leaks mar fueling test

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's long-awaited moonshot with astronauts is off until at least March because of hydrogen fuel leaks that marred the dress rehearsal of its giant new rocket.

It's the same problem that delayed the Space Launch System rocket's debut three years ago. That first test flight was grounded for months because of leaking hydrogen, which is highly flammable and dangerous.

“Actually, this one caught us off guard,” NASA's John Honeycutt said Tuesday, hours after the test came to an abrupt halt at Kennedy Space Center.

Until the exasperating fuel leaks, the space agency had been targeting as soon as this weekend for humanity's first trip to the moon in more than half a century.

“When you’re dealing with hydrogen, it’s a small molecule. It’s highly energetic and we like it for that reason and we do the best we can," Honeycutt explained.

Officials said the month-long delay will allow the launch team to conduct another fueling test before committing the four astronauts — three U.S. and one Canadian — to a lunar fly-around. It's too soon to know when the countdown dress rehearsal might be repeated.

Any repairs to deformed or damaged seals, or other components, can likely be completed at the pad, managers said. A return to the Vehicle Assembly Building would likely result in an even longer delay.

The leaks cropped up early in Monday's loading operation and again hours later, ultimately halting the countdown clocks at the five-minute mark. Launch controllers had wanted to get all the way down to a half-minute in the countdown, but the escaping hydrogen exceeded safety limits.

NASA repeatedly interrupted the flow of liquid hydrogren, which was minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 253 degrees Celsius), in an attempt to warm up the area between the rocket and fuel lines and, hopefully, reseat any loose seals. But that didn't work and neither did altering the flow of the hydrogen — adjustments that allowed the first SLS rocket to finally soar without a crew in 2022.

With their launch now off until at least March 6, commander Reid Wiseman and his crew were given the all-clear to emerge from quarantine in Houston. They will reenter it two weeks before the next launch attempt.

Wiseman said on the social platform X that he was proud of how the dress rehearsal went, “especially knowing how challenging the scenario was for our launch team doing the dangerous and unforgiving work.”

The extreme cold at the launch site did not contribute to the fuel leaks or any other problem, according to officials. Heaters kept the Orion capsule warm atop the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket, while constant purging protected the rocket and ground systems.

Amit Kshatriya, NASA's associate administrator, stressed that the Space Launch System is “an experimental vehicle," with more lessons to be learned. Years between fueling tests and flights don't help, he added.

“I'm just reminded again almost four days and 40 years from Challenger, nobody sitting in one of these chairs needs to be calling any of these vehicles operational,” Kshatriya said at a news conference.

NASA has only a handful of days any given month to send them around the moon — the first time astronauts will have flown there since 1972. They won't land on the moon or even go into lunar orbit during the nearly 10-day mission, but rather check out life support and other vital capsule systems ahead of a moon landing by other astronauts in a few years.

NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s Apollo. The new Artemis program is aiming for new territory — the moon's south polar region — and looking to keep crews on the lunar surface for much longer periods.

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The NASA Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is seen at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A full moon is seen shining over NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Sam Lott/NASA via AP)

The NASA Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is seen at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

The NASA Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is seen at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A full moon is seen shining over NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Sam Lott/NASA via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed Friday to work together to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease global economic uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East.

Their summit in Seoul came as U.S. President Donald Trump slammed allies for not supporting the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. Macron was making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017, as part of an Asian tour that already has taken him to Japan.

Macron told Lee at the start of the meeting that the two countries can play a role in helping to stabilize the situation in the Middle East, including Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has unleashed shock on global energy markets.

At a joint televised briefing afterward, Macron underscored the need for France and South Korea to cooperate to help reopen the strait and deescalate Middle East animosities, while Lee said the two affirmed “their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The two leaders did not take questions and did not elaborate on how they would help reopen the strait — the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.

“We need to clearly define, at the international level, the conditions for a process to ease the crisis and conflict in the Middle East,” Macron said. “We need to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.”

Lee said he and Macron agreed to expand cooperation in technology, energy and other areas. South Korean and French officials also signed agreements to cooperate on nuclear fuel supply chains, jointly invest in an offshore wind project in southern South Korea and to collaborate on critical minerals. South Korea has moved to increase output at its nuclear reactors to mitigate the energy crunch and Lee has also called for a faster transition to renewable energy, saying the war has exposed the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports.

Macron’s Asia trip comes as Trump has ramped up his frustration with allies. In a speech Wednesday, Trump said Americans “don’t need” the strait but the countries who do “must grab it and cherish it.”

In an earlier Easter event at the White House, Trump called for his allies in Asia and China to get involved in reopening the waterway.

“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”

The United States stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea, not the 45,000 stated by Trump. The U.S. troops’ deployment in South Korea is meant to deter potential aggressions from North Korea.

Macron has said reopening the Strait of Hormuz through a military operation is unrealistic.

South Korean officials have said they are in contact with Washington on the issue and that Seoul isn’t considering paying Iran transit fees to secure fuel shipments through the strait.

French President Emmanuel Macron, front left, his wife Brigitte Macron, back center, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, front right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, right, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, his wife Brigitte Macron, left, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, second left, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, second right, during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)