{"id":492719,"date":"2026-02-22T21:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492719\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T21:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:01:08","slug":"nasa-to-repair-artemis-ii-rocket-after-system-malfunction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/492719\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA to repair Artemis II rocket after system malfunction"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in January.MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Grounded until at least April, NASA\u2019s giant moon rocket is headed back to the hangar this week for more repairs before astronauts climb aboard.<\/p>\n

The space agency said Sunday it\u2019s targeting Tuesday for the slow, 6.4-kilometre trek across Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting.<\/p>\n

NASA had barely finished a repeat fuelling test Thursday, to ensure dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks were plugged, when another problem cropped up.<\/p>\n

This time, the rocket\u2019s helium system malfunctioned, further delaying astronauts\u2019 first trip to the moon in more than half a century.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Artemis II launch hits new problem, putting March date in jeopardy<\/a><\/p>\n

Engineers had just tamed the hydrogen leaks and settled on a March 6 launch date \u2013 already a month late \u2013 when the helium issue arose. The helium flow to the rocket\u2019s upper stage was disrupted; helium is needed to purge the engines and pressurize the fuel tanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cReturning to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is required to determine the cause of the issue and fix it,\u201d NASA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

NASA said the quick rollback preps preserve an April launch attempt, but stressed that will depend on how the repairs go. The space agency has only a handful of days any given month to launch the crew of four around the moon and back.<\/p>\n

The three Americans and one Canadian assigned to the Artemis II mission remain on standby in Houston. They will become the first people to fly to the moon since NASA\u2019s Apollo program that sent 24 astronauts there from 1968 through 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are rolled out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492720,"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-492719","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\/492719","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=492719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}