US EditionNASA delays the first Artemis moonshot with astronauts because of extreme cold at the launch site
NASA postponed the fueling test for Artemis II due to near-freezing temperatures, delaying the launch to no earlier than Feb. 8 to ensure crew and hardware safety.
- NASA announced on Friday that the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal is moved to February 2, making the earliest launch opportunity no earlier than February 8, 2026, with no set launch date as of January 30, 2026.
- A rare arctic outbreak brought freezing temperatures and high winds to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, prompting NASA engineers and launch managers to assess hardware against safety protocols.
- Technical teams say the wet dress rehearsal simulates launch-day procedures by loading more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant while heaters and purges protect the Orion spacecraft and SLS 98-metre rocket.
- NASA has ruled out February 6 and February 7, 2026, launch windows, compressing February scheduling to three days while the four astronauts remain in quarantine in Houston under the 14-day health stabilisation programme.
- Artemis II will last roughly 10 days and send humans farther than Apollo 17, testing Orion spacecraft life-support systems and medical experiments on radiation exposure while paving the way for Artemis III human lunar landing.
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NASA adjusted the schedule of the general essay and the launch opportunities for Artemis II, the mission that will take astronauts to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years, due to adverse weather conditions in Florida. With the changes announced, the takeoff will not occur before Sunday, February 8.The US space agency defined Monday, February 2, as the new fueling date for the next general test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.…
Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen began Monday the two-week quarantine to be ready for the launch of the mission, which will not be before February 8. NASA’s test this Saturday, which will include rocket fuel filling and countdown simulation, has been postponed to February 2 by the cold and intense wind Read
NASA has postponed a mission around the Moon due to cold weather.
The US space agency NASA has postponed the launch of a crewed Artemis II rocket to orbit the moon on Friday due to cold weather in Florida. The ground test is now scheduled for Monday instead of this weekend, and the long-awaited crewed launch to the moon will not take place until February 8, US media reports.
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