IT·Science News
Hydrogen leak in Artemis II rehearsal pushes NASA’s crewed Moon flight back to March
NASA has given up on launching Artemis II in February after its wet dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center ran into trouble, FOX 35 Orlando reports. During the two-day simulated countdown on Monday 2 February, teams loaded the Space Launch System rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant. The test ended at T-minus 5 minutes 15 seconds, when a spike in a liquid hydrogen leak triggered an automatic stop. The 8 February target is gone; NASA says it “now will target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the flight test”.
Canada’s The Weather Network says the leak was in one of the umbilicals linking the rocket to the mobile launcher, and engineers spent several hours troubleshooting it. Other problems included repeated audio dropouts and a newly replaced valve in the Orion hatch pressurisation system that needed retightening. The crew — Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — have been in quarantine since 21 January and will be released, then return about two weeks before the next attempt.
“This is precisely why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal.” — Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator, via FOX 35 Orlando
How each outlet framed it
- FOX 35 Orlando — the view from the Space Coast: the full list of issues, including a cold front that affected cameras, and an admission from mission manager John Honeycutt that “this one caught us off guard”.
- The Weather Network — the technical trail: where the leak was, how the countdown was paused to let seals reset, and what the crew does next.
Where the numbers differ: The Weather Network names 6 March as the next potential launch date; FOX 35 says no exact date has been set.
What we don't know yet: whether March will hold. FOX 35 says NASA plans a second wet dress rehearsal first, and if the March window is missed the rocket may have to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building so teams can reach its batteries.