Nasa may roll back Artemis II rocket launch after helium flow discovery | US news

NASA said in a blog post on Saturday that it was taking steps to potentially cancel the launch of the Artemis II rocket after discovering an interrupted helium flow.

The agency said it was taking steps to bring the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“This will almost certainly impact the March launch window,” NASA said.

The agency observed an interrupted flow of helium into the mid-cryogenic propulsion stage of the Space Launch System rocket overnight. A helium flow is required for launch.

NASA announced Friday that it was targeting March 6 for the launch of four astronauts around the Moon and back as part of its Artemis II mission, after successfully completing a refueling test that led it to withdraw earlier this month.

The Artemis II mission’s four astronauts, three Americans – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch – and one Canadian, Jeremy Hansen, were entering a second quarantine period on Friday ahead of the new target launch date, which NASA announced “with reservations” as it said there was still much preparatory work to be done after Thursday’s refueling test.

NASA has several dates in early March to launch Artemis, which will make a 10-day journey around the Moon, but without landing. The flight will take humans farther into space than ever before and, according to NASA, the mission will fly approximately 4,700 miles (7,600 km) beyond the far side of the Moon, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. The mission will test systems for future exploration of deep space.

The mission is in preparation for Artemis III, scheduled for 2028, which will be the first human moon landing since the last flight of the Apollo program in December 1972.

Richard Luscombe contributed reporting