NASA sets March 6 as earliest launch date for Artemis 2 Moon mission
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NASA has set March 6 as the earliest possible launch date for Artemis 2, the first crewed flyby mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.
The announcement follows technical problems in early February that cut short a so-called wet dress rehearsal of the mission’s launch. The setback included a liquid hydrogen leak and dashed hopes of a launch this month.
Lori Glaze, a senior official with the US space agency, said several steps must be completed before the target date can be confirmed. Pad work, a flight readiness review, and analysis of the dress rehearsal are still pending.
“We need to successfully navigate all of those, but assuming that happens, it puts us in a very good position to target March 6,” Glaze said.
NASA rehearsed the launch of its massive SLS rocket on Thursday at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The wet dress rehearsal is conducted under real conditions, with full rocket tanks and technical checks, as engineers practice the maneuvers required for an actual launch.
The US space agency reported that Thursday’s rehearsal proceeded as planned and concluded at “T-29 seconds” in the countdown.
Three American astronauts and one Canadian astronaut make up the Artemis 2 crew. The mission will mark the first time in more than five decades that astronauts travel around the Moon.
