NASA moves its Artemis II moon rocket off launch pad for repairs
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA moved its grounded Artemis moon rocket from the launch pad to its hangar Wednesday for further repairs.
The slow-motion hike to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center was supposed to last all day. The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket had spent a month on the pad, ready for liftoff, but encountered a series of problems serious enough to require a return to the Vehicle Assembly Building, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away.
Officials ordered the withdrawal this weekend after a malfunction in the rocket’s helium pressurization system. Already delayed a month because of hydrogen leaks, the launch team had targeted March for astronauts’ first trip to the Moon in decades. But now the Artemis II lunar flyby by a U.S.-Canadian crew is complete at least until April.
The four astronauts were at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday night for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address as guests because the delay in their flight means they no longer need to quarantine.
