It has been more than five decades since NASA sent astronauts to the moon — what’s another month?
NASA’s planned Artemis II mission to send four astronauts around the moon has been delayed at least a few weeks after the agency discovered an issue with Orion's liquid hydrogen tank during a “wet dress rehearsal” Tuesday morning.
The launch had been scheduled for Friday but is now targeted for March.
NASA said the tank leaked too much liquid hydrogen into the rocket’s core stage. Liquid hydrogen is used as a propellant.
The agency also said a valve in the crew module needed retorquing.
Florida’s Kennedy Space Center has been experiencing unusually cold conditions. NASA said the weather did not affect the wet dress rehearsal but could have been a factor if teams had proceeded with the Friday launch.
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Because of the delay, the four astronauts will be briefly released from quarantine. The crew will return to quarantine two weeks before the launch.
Despite the setbacks, NASA said engineers “met many of the planned objectives.”
“With March as the potential launch window, teams will fully review data from the test, mitigate each issue, and return to testing ahead of setting an official target launch date,” the agency said in a statement.
In 2022, Artemis I marked the first mission in the Artemis program, which NASA hopes will pave the way for deep space exploration beyond the moon. While Artemis I was uncrewed, Artemis II will send four astronauts on a lunar flyby. Artemis III is expected to include a crewed mission to the moon’s surface.
The last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission.
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