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NASA discovers helium problem with Artemis II rocket during launch preparations

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NASA will likely once again delay the launch of the Artemis II mission around the moon following the discovery of a helium flow issue Friday night.

The rocket and Orion spacecraft could be returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the crew witnessed a disruption in helium flow during the rocket’s temporary cryogenic thrust phase, the space agency said Saturday.

NASA explained that helium was used to “maintain appropriate environmental conditions for the stage’s engine and to pressurize the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks.”

While helium worked properly during the agency’s “wet dress rehearsals” for Artemis, “crews were unable to flow helium properly during normal operations” following wet dress rehearsals on February 19.

NASA POSTPONES ARTEMIS MOON MISSION AFTER FOUNDING FUEL LEAKS IN TEST RUN

NASA will likely once again delay the launch of the Artemis II mission around the moon following the discovery of a helium flow issue Friday night. (NASA)

“Operators are using a backup method to maintain environmental conditions for the upper stage engines and the rocket remaining in a safe configuration,” the agency added.

NASA said Friday that it is targeting a March 6 launch date for Artemis. The moonshot may no longer occur until April, officials said.

“The rollback means NASA will not launch Artemis II in the March launch window,” the agency said in a statement Saturday. he said. “However, rapid preparations allow NASA to potentially maintain an April launch window if a turnaround is needed to see how data findings, repair efforts, and the program come to fruition in the coming days and weeks.”

Top of the Artemis rocket on the launch pad

NASA said Friday that it is targeting a March 6 launch date for Artemis. (NASA)

Artemis II is expected to take four astronauts – Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – around the moon on the farthest human spaceflight ever.

This will also be the first lunar mission since the Apollo program ended in 1972.