US EditionNASA Delays Artemis II Launch Following Wet Dress Rehearsal
NASA detected a liquid hydrogen fuel leak during Artemis II's wet dress rehearsal, delaying the mission to March to ensure crew safety and system readiness.
- Shortly after 2 a.m. ET on Tuesday, NASA announced it would forgo the February launch window through Feb. 11 and target March as the earliest possible launch for the Artemis II mission after completing a two-day wet dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B.
- A spike in the liquid hydrogen leak rate caused engineers to halt the wet dress rehearsal terminal countdown at about T‑minus five minutes, while cold weather delayed the test and complicated troubleshooting.
- Carrying four astronauts, Artemis II will complete a 10-day lunar flyby with Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen on the first crewed Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule flight, returning via Pacific Ocean splashdown.
- The agency will hold a 1 p.m. ET Tuesday news conference to discuss rehearsal data, and the Artemis II astronauts will be released from quarantine they entered on Jan. 21 instead of traveling to Kennedy Space Center as planned.
- Looking beyond the delay, Artemis II's role is to test a new life-support system and delay a key milestone before the Artemis III lunar landing planned for 2028.
40 Articles
40 Articles
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
NASA pushes Artemis II launch window to March
PRESS CONFERENCE | NASA has pushed back a possible launch of the Artemis II moon mission to March after issues were encountered Monday during a test run at Kennedy Space Center. "Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test and met many of the planned objectives," NASA said in Feb. 3 blog post.
ABC FOX Montana
NASA Moon mission launch delayed to March after test
NASA said Tuesday it's delaying until March the launch of its first crewed flyby mission to the Moon in more than 50 years, after encountering leaks during final tests.
WPSD Local 6
NASA delays launch of historic moon mission
NASA is now targeting March for the earliest possible launch of its historic Artemis II lunar moon mission, which will send four astronauts into deep space for the first time since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago.
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