NASA clears Artemis moon rocket for April launch with 4 astronauts following repairs
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA on Thursday cleared its April launch with four astronauts, after completing the final round of repairs.
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will roll out of the hangar and return to the pad next week at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, leading to a launch attempt as early as April 1. This will be humanity’s first trip to the Moon in more than 50 years.
The Artemis II crew should have blasted off for a lunar flyby earlier this year, but fuel leaks and other problems with the Space Launch System rocket intervened.
Although NASA managed to plug hydrogen leaks on the platform in February, a helium flow problem forced the space agency to return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs, pushing the mission back to April.
The space agency has only a few days in early April to launch before pulling back until April 30 in early May.
Late last month, new NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the Artemis program. Dissatisfied with the slow pace and long intervals between lunar missions, he added an additional training flight orbiting Earth for the next year. It is now the new Artemis III, with the moon landing of two astronauts shifted to Artemis IV. Isaacman is aiming for one, or even two, moon landings in 2028.
NASA’s Office of Inspector General warned in an audit this week that the space agency must develop a rescue plan for its lunar crews. Landing near the Moon’s south pole will be riskier than for Apollo astronauts closer to the equator, given the rugged polar terrain, the report said.
Contracted by NASA to deliver the lunar landers to astronauts, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have accelerated work to meet the new target date of 2028. The inspector general’s office said many technical challenges remain, including refueling the landers in orbit around the Earth before flying to the Moon.
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