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NASA has postponed its Artemis II mission to March after completing a launch rehearsal that revealed issues with fueling the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. This marks another delay for the mission, which aims to send four astronauts around the moon and back.
Initially, the agency planned to launch the four Artemis II astronauts this month, following a 49-hour countdown rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The earliest possible launch date within this window was February 8.
“With the wet dress rehearsal wrapping up today (Tuesday), we are moving beyond the February launch window and aiming for a March launch at the earliest,” stated NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
“Considering there’s been more than three years between SLS launches, we anticipated encountering some challenges—that’s exactly why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal in the first place,” he added.
A wet dress rehearsal is a final prelaunch test involving fully loading the rocket with liquid fuel and running through the countdown procedures, without actually launching. During this test, NASA reported a liquid hydrogen leak stemming from tiny fittings on a fueling hose connected to the SLS.
The Artemis II crew includes three American astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch—as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. This mission is expected to be the furthest humans have traveled into space and will be the first crewed moon flight since the Apollo program over 50 years ago.
Artemis II serves as a stepping stone towards NASA’s planned lunar landing with Artemis III, scheduled for 2028. That mission will also utilize the SLS rocket with the Orion capsule on top, but for the first time, SpaceX’s Starship will serve as the lunar lander.
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