NASA may take moon mission Artemis II rocket back to assembly site

NASA is taking steps to potentially roll back the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft to its Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after observing an interrupted flow of helium, the space agency said on Saturday. “This will almost assuredly impact the March launch window,” NASA said.

The agency observed overnight an interrupted flow of helium in the Space Launch System rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Helium flow is required for launch.

NASA said on Friday it was targeting March 6 for the launch of four astronauts around the moon and back as part of its Artemis II mission.

The planned Artemis II crew includes three U.S. astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch – and a Canadian astronaut, Jeremy Hansen. The mission is poised to be the farthest human flight into space ever, and the first crewed moon mission since the U.S. Apollo program more than half a century ago.

Artemis II is a precursor to NASA’s planned astronaut moon landing with Artemis III, which is scheduled for 2028.