{"id":485892,"date":"2026-02-19T18:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485892\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T18:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:50:17","slug":"nasa-conducts-second-rocket-fueling-test-that-will-decide-when-artemis-astronauts-head-to-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485892\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA conducts second rocket fueling test that will decide when Artemis astronauts head to the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA took another crack<\/a> at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal and delayed the first lunar trip<\/a> by astronauts in more than half a century.<\/p>\n

For the second time this month, launch teams began pumping more than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of supercold fuel into the rocket atop its launch pad.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the most critical and challenging part of the two-day practice countdown. The outcome will determine whether a March launch is possible for the Artemis II moon mission with four astronauts.<\/p>\n

During the rehearsal two weeks ago, dangerous amounts of supercold liquid hydrogen<\/a> escaped from the connections between the pad and the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket. Engineers replaced a pair of seals and a clogged filter in hopes of getting through the repeat test at Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n

NASA won\u2019t set a launch date for the Artemis II mission until it passes the fueling demonstration. Like last time, the crew \u2014 three Americans and one Canadian \u2014 watched the test from afar.<\/p>\n

The soonest astronauts could soar is March 6. They will become the first people to fly to the moon \u2014 making a 10-day out-and-back trip with no stops \u2014 since Apollo 17 in 1972. They won\u2019t orbit or land.<\/p>\n

NASA has been battling hydrogen fuel leaks ever since the space shuttle era, which provided many of the SLS engines. The first Artemis test flight without anyone on board was grounded for months by leaking hydrogen before finally blasting off in November 2022.<\/p>\n

Going years between flights exacerbates the problem, according to NASA\u2019s new administrator Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur who financed his own trips to orbit through SpaceX.<\/p>\n

Just two months into the job, Isaacman already is promising to redesign the fuel connections between the rocket and pad before the next Artemis III launch. Still a few years away, that mission will attempt to land two astronauts near the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not launch unless we are ready and the safety of our astronauts will remain the highest priority,\u201d he said last week on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA took another crack at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-485892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}