Well, I guess we jinxed it.<\/p>\n
One day after NASA completed a wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis 2 mission<\/a> with no major issues, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket started acting up again. This time, it wasn\u2019t a hydrogen leak. In an agency statement issued<\/a> Saturday, NASA said engineers observed interrupted flow of helium to the rocket\u2019s interim cryogenic propulsion stage, which provides<\/a> propulsion to the Orion spacecraft. Helium is essential to maintaining proper environmental conditions for the stage\u2019s engine and to pressurizing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks.<\/p>\n To fix the problem, NASA has to roll SLS and the stacked Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Weather permitting, teams will begin the rollback process on Tuesday, according to a Sunday update<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a Saturday X post, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said \u201cthis will take the March window out of consideration.\u201d After a near-perfect redo wet dress rehearsal last week, the agency was targeting March 6 as the earliest possible launch date for Artemis 2. Now, it will be lucky if this mission gets off the ground in April.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand people are disappointed by this development,\u201d Isaacman said. \u201cThat disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n How did we get here? <\/p>\n The Artemis 2 mission will be the first crewed flight for both SLS and Orion. It will also be the first to send astronauts to the vicinity of the Moon since the Apollo era, and this time, they\u2019re venturing farther into deep space than any have gone before. Its success is critical to NASA\u2019s Artemis program, as it will validate that these spacecraft are capable of carrying crew to the Moon and pave the way for future lunar landings.<\/p>\n The mission\u2019s predecessor, Artemis 1, experienced its fair share of technical issues during the lead-up to launch, too. SLS and Orion rolled back to the VAB three times due to valve issues, hydrogen leaks, and extreme weather, delaying the mission by several months.<\/p>\n Artemis 2 launch preparations got off to a similarly rocky start. During the first wet dress rehearsal<\/a>\u2014when engineers load the SLS\u2019s core and upper stages with propellants and run through the countdown without firing the boosters\u2014teams discovered a helium leak in the same spot<\/a> that caused trouble during Artemis 1.<\/p>\n