NASA Director Jared Isaacman on Saturday ruled out a March launch of the Artemis 2 mission due to technical problems with the rocket, which is designed to carry astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
These problems were discovered overnight by the NASA team and consist of a failure in the flow of helium in one of the rocket’s stages, he explained.
“Whatever the damage is,” it would force the U.S. space agency to return the rocket to the assembly building, “eliminating the launch window” planned for March, Isaacman told X.
The day before, NASA announced that it plans to launch on March 6 after a successful dress rehearsal.
However, the agency’s management indicated that engineers will need several days to analyze the data from this test, and that more maneuvers and technical checks are still required.
The Artemis 2 astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — who entered quarantine on Friday in preparation for a possible flight in early March may be released.
The mission, which will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and last about ten days, will be the first human flight around the moon in more than 50 years.
NASA had five possible launch windows in March and also announced six more possible slots in April.
