NASA targets March for first moon mission by Artemis astronauts after fueling test success
NASA successfully completed a key fueling test with over 700,000 gallons of propellant and aims for a March 6 launch to send astronauts around the moon for the first time in 50 years.
- On Friday, NASA said it could launch four astronauts on the Artemis II lunar fly-around as soon as March 6 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center after a successful rocket fueling test.
- After earlier hydrogen leaks, launch teams reported major progress between a disrupted first rehearsal and a second test without significant seepage Thursday after technicians replaced two seals.
- The countdown clocks hit the 29-second mark during the second rehearsal, while Commander Reid Wiseman and two of his crew monitored Thursday's operation alongside launch controllers.
- With a narrow March window, NASA must complete remaining checks including a flight readiness review, and the space agency has only five days in March to launch the crew aboard the Space Launch System rocket before standing down until April.
- The astronauts would be the first since Apollo 17 in 1972 to fly to the moon, and the three Americans and one Canadian will begin a mandatory two-week health quarantine Friday night.
133 Articles
133 Articles
After Half a Century of Waiting, NASA Sets March 2026 for Humanity’s Return Trip Around the Moon
NASA has set March 6, 2026, as the target launch date for Artemis II, the first crewed mission around the Moon in over fifty years. Four astronauts will test the Orion spacecraft on a 10-day lunar flyby mission.
NASA primed for March launch of Artemis II after successful test
The four astronauts set to venture farther than any human has ever traveled from Earth are set to enter quarantine Friday with the chance to launch on the Artemis II moonshot mission early next month.
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