NASA delays Artemis II moon mission after critical test raises issues
NASA will review data gathered during a simulated launch of the Artemis II rocket before revealing a new date for its upcoming moon mission
NASA has delayed its upcoming moon mission to at least March following a crucial test of the Artemis II rocket.
NASA on Tuesday said the mission’s wet dress rehearsal, which involved fueling the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and then initiating a countdown sequence, had revealed issues with both the rocket and the Orion capsule that is supposed to house the four astronauts who will be flying on board.
Indeed, this critical test of Artemis II’s systems was not smooth sailing: some hours into fueling the rocket, the SLS appeared to be leaking liquid hydrogen from its core stage, which houses its main engines. That caused NASA to temporarily pause loading the rocket’s propellant in order to trouble shoot the problem. And later, a valve on the Orion capsule malfunctioned, while engineers also attempted to troubleshoot several dropouts of ground teams’ audio communications channels.
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Fuel leaks have plagued the SLS before. Artemis I, the predecessor mission to Artemis II, also suffered from fuel leaks during its wet dress rehearsal and at other points in the lead up to the mission, causing its launch to be delayed by weeks.
Artemis II will see four astronauts fly a 10-day loop around the moon and back to Earth, going farther into space than any human has gone before. The mission is currently set to launch no earlier than March.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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