NASA is preparing to roll the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after detecting an interrupted flow of helium within the Space Launch System rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage, the agency announced Saturday.
The issue, which is critical for launch, will “almost assuredly impact the March launch window,” NASA stated in a blog post. The agency had been targeting March 6 for the launch of the four-person crew – three Americans and one Canadian – on a 10-day mission to orbit the moon.
The Artemis II mission crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The crew had begun a second period of quarantine on Friday in anticipation of the planned launch, NASA said, “with caveats,” acknowledging that significant preparatory work remained following a fueling test conducted Thursday.
Thursday’s fueling test followed an initial test earlier this month that revealed hydrogen fuel leaks and other issues at Launch Pad 39B, according to Space.com. The latest interruption concerns helium, which is necessary to pressurize fuel tanks and purge systems.
The Artemis II mission will send the crew on a trajectory that will accept them approximately 4,700 miles (7,600km) beyond the far side of the moon, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, NASA has said. The flight is designed to verify modern human capabilities in deep space and pave the way for future lunar exploration, including the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2028, which aims to land astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972.
As of Saturday evening, NASA had not announced a revised launch target. A media briefing regarding the wet dress rehearsal test is scheduled for 11 a.m. Eastern on Friday, February 20, and will be streamed on the agency’s website. A 24/7 live stream of the rocket at the pad remains online, according to NASA.
