NASA says it has fixed the helium problem on its Artemis II rocket, which the space agency plans to launch to the moon within weeks.
Artemis II is scheduled to fly four astronauts around the moon on a historic journey that will take humans further into space than ever before. However, a problem with helium flow discovered in the upper stage of the mission’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket last month delayed the mission for the second time this year.
Engineers have now determined that a loose seal was obstructing the helium and are making repairs, according to a NASA statement. The space agency expects to continue working on the rocket in the coming weeks — such as replacing batteries in the rocket’s self-destruct system and elsewhere — before it returns to a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in time to target an April launch.
The Start windows in April for Artemis II includes April 1, 3-6 April and 30 April. This will be NASA’s last chance to launch the rocket in time; The assignment is intended to take off on 30 April at the latest.
Artemis II is NASA’s first attempt to return humans to the Moon in more than 50 years. The mission will also send a woman and a black man to the moon for the first time. While Artemis II will not land on the moon, NASA wants to use the 10-day flight to test systems and collect data before two crews mission to the lunar surface planned for 2028.
The The Artemis program has experienced a number of setbacks, including a number of hydrogen leaks. This is also not the first time an Artemis rocket has returned to the shop for repairs. Artemis I SLS rocket went back to the vehicle assembly building more than once in 2022, sooner rather than later takes off and completes its unmanned test flight around the moon.
The delays led NASA to announce a major overhaul of the Artemis program last Friday (February 27), with the agency now potentially targeting annual launches drop SpaceX and Boeing from their mission plans, and targeting two lunar landings in 2028.
Expectations for an Artemis II launch in March were high after the rocket completed a important fuel test February 19. The crew demonstrated their ability to safely fuel the SLS with more than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of cryogenic propellants—supercold liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer—and complete a simulated launch.
Then, on the night of February 20-21, what NASA has now identified as a dislodged seal prevented helium from flowing to the rocket’s upper stage, forcing the agency to scrub the launch and roll the rocket back to Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building.
Helium is important because NASA uses it to control environmental conditions in the upper stage engine and to pressurize fuel tanks. With repairs made to the seal, engineers hope the helium can do its job unhindered from here.
NASA aimed for a short turnaround with the rollback to keep the April launch windows open. For now, the space agency appears to be on track for a spring launch.
