NASA has postponed its historic mission to send astronauts around the moon after problems arose in a critical test of its most powerful rocket.
The US space agency had planned to launch the Artemis II mission early next week from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but It was announced overnight It will be delayed till March without specifying the date.
During an elaborate launch-day walkthrough known as a “wet dress rehearsal,” engineers discovered a hydrogen leak. Space Launch System (SLS). The teams also ran into trouble with a valve associated with the Orion capsule on top of the rocket and where the four astronauts would live and work during the 10-day mission.
“Engineers faced many challenges during the two-day test,” NASA said in its statement, adding that NASA will “thoroughly review data from the test” of the 98-meter-long rocket.
The news was a disappointing setback for the crew, who had been in quarantine for nearly two weeks to prevent contracting the illness before the mission.
Also in over 50 years since humans returned to near the moon, Christina Koch and Victor Glover will become the first woman and the first person of color, respectively, to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
This is the second flight of NASA’s SLS rocket, after being uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022which was also temporarily affected by hydrogen leaks during tests.
For Artemis II, astronauts will not enter lunar orbit but will be the first to make a 685,000-mile round trip to orbit the moon. Apollo 17 in 1972. This mission paves the way for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole. NASA wants to establish a permanent presence on the lunar surface as part of its Artemis program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon and the twin sister of Apollo.
US astronaut Reed Wiseman, who lived and worked on the International Space Station for months, was selected as Artemis II’s commander. Canadian physicist and fighter pilot Jeremy Hansen was also part of the crew. If the mission is successful, Hansen will become the first US astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
In the test on Tuesday night, more than 2.6m liters (700,000 gallons) of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen had to flow into the tanks, simulating the final stages of a real-life countdown.
Because of the delay, NASA said the crew will enter quarantine again for “about two weeks” before the next launch window. The agency previously said there were several launch dates between February and late April.
