CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: A fuel leak interrupted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) launch countdown for its new moon rocket on Monday morning, reappearing in the same place that saw seepage during a dress rehearsal back in the spring.

Launch controllers halted the tanking operation, which was already running an hour late because of thunderstorms offshore. They slowly resumed the process to confirm that it was, indeed, a hydrogen fuel leak and not faulty sensors, but alarms forced another temporary pause as precious minutes in the countdown ticked away.