Fuel leakage causes pause in countdown to NASA's strongest ever moon rocket launch

 The world's eyes are on Cape Canaveral in Florida today, where the most powerful space rocket of all time is about to launch into the Moon.

As NASA prepares to launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket encountered a fuel leak.

Fortunately, NASA seems to believe that refuelling problems are behind this, and the launch could still continue.

There was a delay in filling fuel tanks after the suspected hydrogen leak was detected. NASA's communications team confirmed this delay.

Fuel tanks are filled with oxygen and liquid hydrogen, which combine to produce rocket fuel.

• Reportedly, both reservoirs are now 90% full, and the chance of launch seems more likely.

• Launch observers halted the supply operation, which was already delayed by an hour due to thunderstorms outside.

• They slowly resumed the process to ensure that the problem actually related to hydrogen fuel leakage and not defective sensors

• but the alarms forced the Panel to pause the countdown to the launch, once again as precious minutes approached the launch.

Artemis 1 is scheduled to launch to the Moon at 8:33 a.m. ET (1:33 p.m. GMT).

According to Flordia Today, as many as 500 thousand people went to Cape Canaveral in Florida to watch the launch.

NASA hosts a live broadcast of the first launch, as the countdown to the first phase of humanity's return to the Moon approaches.

The Artemis 1 mission is a vital first step if the United States Space Agency is to achieve its goal of landing humans on the Moon within three years, which is likely to include the first woman and the first person of color.