CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA plans to send astronauts to the moon in March after successfully completing its final rocket refueling.
Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that the launch teams had made “a lot of progress” between the first countdown test, which was derailed by a hydrogen leak earlier this month, and the second test, which was completed without significant leaks Thursday night.
Rachel Kraft, NASA communications officer, left; Amit Kshatriya, NASA Deputy Administrator; Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Research Systems Development Mission Directorate; Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis II’s launch director, and John Honeycutt, president of the Artemis II mission management team, discuss what went well and challenges that need to be addressed during a general rehearsal press conference on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
The test was “a big step toward getting America back into the lunar environment,” Isaacman said on social media platform X.
NASA may launch four astronauts on the Artemis II lunar mission on March 6 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
To keep their options open, three Americans and a Canadian plan to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine on Friday night.
The space agency has just five days in March to launch a crew aboard a Space Launch System rocket before pausing until April.
February’s chances were dashed after a dangerous leak of liquid hydrogen during the first refueling demonstration.
Technicians replaced two seals, allowing the test to be successfully repeated on Thursday. The hands of the countdown clock reached the desired mark of 29 seconds.
The repair has worked, but there are still tasks to complete, such as a flight-readiness check, according to NASA’s Laurie Glaze.
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