NASA Delays Artemis II Moon Mission
The space agency halted its "wet dress rehearsal" at Kennedy Space Center after engineers identified a hydrogen leak at the base of the Space Launch System rocket • The earliest new launch window is now March.
NASA has postponed its Artemis II mission, which is set to carry four astronauts on a journey around the Moon, after a critical hydrogen leak was detected during a full launch rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The "wet dress rehearsal," designed to simulate launch day and assess the readiness of the rocket and spacecraft systems, was halted shortly after midnight on Tuesday, with approximately five minutes and fifteen seconds remaining on the simulated countdown. Engineers had identified a hydrogen leak at the base of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during the fueling process.
The fueling was paused twice during the rehearsal to inspect the leak at the rear of the rocket. Although the rehearsal continued and checks were also carried out on the Orion spacecraft, which is mounted at the top of the rocket, the leaks resurfaced in the final minutes of the countdown. NASA reported that the rocket's systems, which are designed to take over control in the final stages before liftoff, automatically halted the countdown after the rate of leakage increased.
Shortly after 2:00 a.m., NASA confirmed it would abandon its February launch window, which had been scheduled between Friday and February 11, to allow engineering teams to analyse the data and conduct a further wet dress rehearsal. The agency is now targeting March as the earliest possible launch opportunity.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said he had anticipated encountering challenges, adding that identifying faults before flight is precisely the purpose of the rehearsal. He stated that safety remains the top priority for the astronauts, staff, systems and the public, and that the agency will only proceed with the launch once it is fully confident in its readiness for the historic mission.
Artemis II will be the second flight of the SLS rocket and Orion capsule, but the first to carry a crew. The mission is widely regarded as a key milestone in NASA's broader goal of returning astronauts to the surface of the Moon.