After another delay to NASA’s planned mission to return humans to the moon, the four-member crew of Artemis II has been given a new launch window.
NASA said the crew could lift off as soon as April 1, with additional launch opportunities later in the month. Officials plan to roll the Artemis II rocket and its Orion spacecraft off the launch pad on March 19. The astronauts will also begin a two-week prelaunch quarantine in the coming weeks.
The latest delay came after engineers discovered an interrupted flow of helium to the Space Launch System rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage. The mission was previously postponed for about four weeks when a rehearsal revealed a problem with Orion’s liquid hydrogen tank, which leaked excessive propellant into the rocket’s core stage.
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Artemis I, launched in 2022, was the first mission in NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to enable deep space exploration beyond the moon. While Artemis I was uncrewed, Artemis II will carry four astronauts on a lunar flyby.
“While I am comfortable and the agency is comfortable with targeting April 1 as our first opportunity, keep in mind we still have work to go,” said Lori Glaze, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “There are still things that need to be done within the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and out at the pad. And as always, we'll be guided by what the hardware is telling us, and we will launch when we’re ready.”
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Artemis III was originally planned as a crewed landing on the lunar surface. NASA now intends to use the mission to test an uncrewed lunar lander, making Artemis IV the first crewed landing of the program.
The last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon was Apollo 17 in 1972.
