NASA units Artemis II crewed moon mission launch for April 1 : NPR

NASA employees brief the media on Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. about the delayed Artemis II mission. The news conference focused on revisions and fixes being done to the rocket components.

NASA staff temporary the media on Thursday on the Kennedy Area Middle in Cape Canaveral, Fla. in regards to the delayed Artemis II mission. The information convention targeted on revisions and fixes being achieved to the rocket elements.

Gregg Newton/AFP by way of Getty Photographs

disguise caption

toggle caption

Gregg Newton/AFP by way of Getty Photographs

ORLANDO — After a crucial pre-flight evaluation, NASA is focusing on a launch of Artemis II as early as April 1 to ship 4 astronauts on a 10-day mission across the moon and again.

The mobile launcher containing the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft arrives at the Vehicle Assembly Building after a rollback that lasted over ten hours at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 25, 2026. NASA teams detected issues with the helium flow and removed the rocket from the launchpad.

The choice Thursday got here after an in-depth flight readiness evaluation, the place managers met to debate the mission. “All of the groups polled ‘go’ to launch and fly Artemis II across the moon,” stated Lori Glaze, of NASA’s Exploration Techniques Improvement Mission Directorate.

The crew — NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, together with Canadian Area Company astronaut Jeremy Hansen — have been on the flight readiness evaluation.

NASA had deliberate to launch the mission earlier this month, however following a profitable fueling check in February, engineers found a difficulty with the rocket’s helium system, which regulates the pressures within the car’s gas tanks. Mission managers determined to roll the rocket again into the Car Meeting Constructing on the Kennedy Area Middle for repairs.

Technicians have been in a position to restore the helium difficulty by changing a seal. With the difficulty now fastened, floor groups plan to maneuver the rocket again to its launch pad on Thursday. “Consider we nonetheless have work to go. There are nonetheless issues that must be achieved throughout the VAB and out on the pad,” stated Glaze. “And as at all times, we’ll at all times be guided by what the {hardware} is telling us and we’ll launch once we are prepared.”

Planning for an April 1 launch, the crew will enter quarantine at NASA’s Johnson Area Middle in Houston on March 18, and make the journey to Florida on March 27.

Artemis II has six days in the beginning of the month to launch: April 1-6. As soon as the mission does launch, it’s going to mark the primary human mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Source link