NASA’s much-anticipated Artemis 2 mission has been delayed due to a technical glitch in the rocket. NASA has scheduled the mission for next March. The long wait for a manned lunar mission after almost half a century has been extended by a few more weeks.
Reuters reported that the decision was made after problems were discovered with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during a recent refueling exercise. This is the latest delay in the mission to send four astronauts around the moon.
The US space agency had planned to send astronauts this month. The launch was dependent on the success of a 49-hour countdown exercise at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to that plan, the earliest possible date was February 8.
“Following the completion of the rocket’s refueling exercise on Tuesday, we are moving away from our February launch plan. We are now targeting a possible March launch for the Artemis 2 mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.
“It’s been more than three years since the SLS rocket launched. We knew we would face some challenges. And that’s why we organized this refueling exercise.”
A ‘wet dress rehearsal’ is the final rehearsal before a rocket launch. It involves filling the rocket with liquid fuel and starting the countdown for launch, but the rocket is not actually launched.
NASA said that during the exercise, the rocket’s liquid hydrogen fuel was leaking through a small hole in a large hose pipe, the pipe through which they pump fuel into the SLS rocket.
The planned crew for the Artemis 2 mission includes three American astronauts, Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and one Canadian astronaut, Jeremy Hansen.
The mission is set to be the longest human spaceflight ever, and the first manned lunar mission since the US Apollo program nearly half a century ago.
Artemis 2 is a preparatory mission for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for 2028. The Artemis 3 mission plans to land astronauts directly on the lunar surface.
That mission will also use NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, and the Orion astronaut capsule will be at the top. However, this time, for the first time, SpaceX’s Starship rocket will be used as the lunar landing vehicle or lander.
