US EditionNASA Halts Artemis II Fueling Test After Hydrogen Leak Detected
Hydrogen leak at rocket base halted fueling, forcing a launch delay to March for Artemis II, NASA said, allowing time for data review and another wet dress rehearsal.
- On Monday, NASA halted fueling of the Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center after detecting a hydrogen leak and ended the countdown with around 5 minutes and 15 seconds remaining.
- At an umbilical plate where a fuel line from the launch pad connects to the SLS rocket's first stage, engineers found a leak after the tank was about 55% and 77% full, using workaround methods from the maiden flight to reseat seals.
- Teams had loaded more than 700,000 gallons of propellant into the 322-foot SLS rocket while the Artemis II crew monitored remotely from Houston after quarantining since Jan. 21.
- With the countdown halted, the countdown ended before the rocket switched to internal power or activated auxiliary power units; launch controllers began draining the SLS propellant tanks and NASA managers scheduled a Tuesday press briefing to review early test results.
- With February's tight window, the Artemis II mission faces launch dates of Feb. 8, 10 and 11, with March 6–9 and March 11 available if delays persist.
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60 Articles
NASA has postponed at least until March the launch of the first manned mission to the Moon in more than half a century. The decision has been made after having suspended the general countdown test when five minutes remained, due to recurrent fuel leaks during the filling of the Space Launch System (SLS) tanks, the most powerful rocket ever built by the U.S. space agency. Read more
Sun-Sentinel
Orlando SentinelNASA’s Artemis II launch delayed until at least March after test run falls short
NASA’s test run of its Artemis II countdown ran into problems Monday at Kennedy Space Center that ultimately forced a decision to call off any chance to launch the moonbound mission this month. “With the conclusion of the wet dress rehearsal today, we are moving off the February launch window and targeting March for the earliest possible launch of Artemis II,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in an early Tuesday post on X. “With more than …
NASA has announced this Tuesday that it postpones until next March the launch of the first manned mission to the Moon after more than 50 years after suspending the general countdown test in the absence of five minutes, due to recurrent fuel leaks during the filling of the Space Launch System (SLS) tanks. NASA has explained that the general water test was a pre-launch test to feed the rocket, designed to identify any problems and solve them befor…
By Katie Hunt and Jackie Wattles, CNN. NASA is now targeting March for the earliest possible launch of its historic Artemis II lunar mission, which will send four astronauts into deep space for the first time since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago. The decision came after NASA announced it completed a dress rehearsal early Tuesday morning, a crucial test of the powerful rocket system that will propel the astronauts on an unpre…
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