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Artemis II Moon Mission Faces Another Delay Due to Weather and Technical Glitches
Kennedy Space Center, FL – The highly anticipated Artemis II mission to the moon has hit another snag, as adverse weather conditions and a newly discovered technical issue have pushed back the planned rollback of the rocket and spacecraft. This marks the latest in a series of delays for the ambitious lunar test flight.
Originally slated for Tuesday afternoon, the intricate process of moving the Artemis II rocket and its Orion spacecraft from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center was postponed to Wednesday morning. NASA cited high winds in the area as the primary reason for the delay. The 4-mile journey is a meticulous operation, expected to take approximately 12 hours to complete.
The decision to return the spacecraft to the VAB was made after crews detected an interrupted flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage on Saturday. This critical issue arose during normal operations and subsequent reconfigurations following a “wet dress rehearsal” that concluded last Thursday. Helium plays a vital role in maintaining the proper environmental conditions for the engine and pressurizing the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks, essentially ensuring the smooth flow of fuel into the rocket.
Once inside the VAB, teams will install platforms to gain access to the affected area and thoroughly investigate the helium flow issue. This investigation will include a review of potential causes and an analysis of data from the 2022 Artemis I mission, which also experienced helium-related pressurization challenges in its upper stage prior to launch.
The Artemis II mission is a crucial test flight designed to send four astronauts on a more than 600,000-mile journey around the moon. The crew will fly between 4,000 and 6,000 miles above the moon’s far side, spending a day observing and photographing the region, and testing critical spacecraft systems.
After the lunar flyby, the Earth-moon gravity field will assist in pulling the spacecraft back to Earth over a three-day return trip. The Orion capsule is then expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego, where the U.S.
Navy will recover the astronauts from the Pacific Ocean. The entire mission is projected to last 10 days.
This mission is a significant stepping stone for the future Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the moon’s South Pole-a region never before explored by humans. Artemis II will also mark the first time humans have ventured beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Previous delays for the Artemis moonshot have included near-freezing temperatures at the launch site in January, which necessitated the deployment of heaters to keep the Orion capsule warm and the adaptation of rocket-purging systems to the cold.
The current rollback means the Artemis II will not launch during its previously eyed March launch window. However, NASA remains hopeful that quick preparations and successful resolution of the technical issue could potentially preserve an April launch window, pending the outcome of data findings and repair efforts.