CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA’s massive lunar rocket, currently grounded, will return to its assembly building this week for further repairs before astronauts are scheduled to board, officials announced Sunday.
The space agency plans to begin the 4-mile (6.4 kilometer) journey back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, weather permitting.
Just days after completing a new fuel-loading test designed to address dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks, another issue emerged. A failure in the rocket’s helium system is now delaying the first crewed lunar mission in over half a century.
The helium system issue arose after engineers had seemingly resolved the hydrogen leak concerns and set a launch date of March 6 – already a month behind schedule. The flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage was interrupted; helium is essential for purging the engines and pressurizing the fuel tanks.
“The rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is necessary to determine the cause of the problem and resolve it,” NASA stated in a release.
NASA indicated that returning to the preparation facility quickly helps maintain a potential launch attempt in April, but emphasized that this depends on the progress of the repairs. The agency has limited opportunities each month to launch the four-person crew around the Moon and back.
The three American astronauts and one Canadian astronaut assigned to the Artemis II mission remain in Houston, awaiting further notice. They are poised to become the first humans to fly to the Moon since NASA’s Apollo program, which sent 24 astronauts there between 1968 and 1972.
The Artemis II mission represents a significant step in renewed lunar exploration, building on decades of space technology advancements. The program aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon and eventually pave the way for missions to Mars.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence tools.
