It looks like a March launch is no longer in the cards for Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed trip to the vicinity of the Moon since the last Apollo mission 50 years ago. While preparations are underway at Kennedy Space Center for launch on March 6, the space agency says it encountered a problem with helium flow in the upper stage of its SLS rocket this weekend and will now have to roll the rocket from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to figure out what’s wrong and fix it. A media briefing is planned for sometime this week to discuss the problem and what’s next.
But in a post on X, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed that the rollback would “take the March launch window out of consideration.” NASA noted on its blog that the current effort “potentially preserves the April launch window, pending the results of data findings, repair efforts, and how the schedule plays out in the coming days and weeks.” It’s a four-mile trip to the VAB that will take hours to carefully transport the large rocket and Orion spacecraft. NASA says that it is eyeing February 24 for this journey.
The problem occurred in the early night hours of February 21, when NASA says it observed “disrupted flow of helium into the interim cryogenic propulsion stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.” The space agency explained:
The upper stage uses helium to maintain proper environmental conditions for the stage’s engines and to pressurize the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks. The system worked during NASA’s Artemis II wet dress rehearsal, but the teams were not able to properly flow helium during normal operations and reconfiguration after the wet dress rehearsal concluded on February 19. Operators are using a backup method to maintain environmental conditions for the upper stage engine and rocket, which remain in a safe configuration.
The Artemis II crew – commander Reed Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist – had entered quarantine only a day before the issue arose. NASA says the astronauts have since come out of quarantine.
Earlier this year, NASA announced an accelerated timeline for Artemis II, which was previously scheduled for April 2026 after experiencing delays to 2024. For this 10-day mission, which will be the first crewed flight of the SLS rocket, Artemis II astronauts will take a trip around the moon in the Orion spacecraft. Although it was initially targeted for early February, the launch was pushed to March due to issues encountered during wet dress rehearsals. Now, we are back to the beginning with a possible April launch, but that will depend on a quick resolution.
<a href