{"id":490438,"date":"2026-02-21T18:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/490438\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:24:07","slug":"nasas-artemis-ii-launch-hits-new-problem-putting-march-date-in-jeopardy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/490438\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Artemis II launch hits new problem, putting March date in jeopardy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

NASA’s moon rocket sits on the pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 19.Uncredited\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s new moon rocket suffered another setback Saturday, putting next month\u2019s planned launch with astronauts in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

The space agency revealed the latest problem just one day after targeting March 6<\/a> for humanity\u2019s first flight to the moon in more than half a century. Overnight, the flow of helium to the rocket\u2019s upper stage was interrupted, officials said. Solid helium flow is required for launch.<\/p>\n

This helium issue has nothing to do with the hydrogen fuel leaks<\/a> that marred a countdown dress rehearsal of the Space Launch System rocket earlier this month and forced a repeat test.<\/p>\n

NASA said it is reviewing the data and preparing, if necessary, to return the 98-metre rocket to the hangar for repairs at Florida\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. It\u2019s possible the work could be done at the launch pad; the space agency said engineers are preparing for both options.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will almost assuredly impact the March launch window,\u201d NASA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Opinion: When Artemis II returns to Earth, Jeremy Hansen should bring back moon trees<\/a><\/p>\n

Hydrogen fuel leaks had already delayed the Artemis II lunar fly-around by a month. A second fueling test on Thursday revealed hardly any leaks, giving managers the confidence to aim for a March liftoff. The four astronauts went into their two-week quarantine Friday night, mandatory for avoiding germs.<\/p>\n

The interrupted helium flow is confined to the SLS rocket\u2019s interim cryogenic propulsion stage. This upper stage is essential for placing the Orion crew capsule into the proper high-altitude orbit around Earth for checkout, following liftoff. After that, it\u2019s supposed to separate from Orion and serve as a target for the astronauts inside the capsule, allowing them to practice docking techniques for future moon missions.<\/p>\n

During NASA\u2019s Apollo program, 24 astronauts flew to the moon from 1968 through 1972. The new Artemis program has completed only one flight so far, a lunar-orbiting mission without a crew in 2022. That first test flight was also plagued by hydrogen fuel leaks before blasting off. The first moon landing with a crew under Artemis is still at least a few years away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: NASA’s moon rocket sits on the pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-490438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490438","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=490438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}