NASA is preparing to remove its massive moon rocket from its launchpad to fix a technical issue, delaying the agency’s much-anticipated mission to send a crew of four around the moon.
On Saturday, NASA announced that it planned to roll back the rocket, the Boeing-built Space Launch System, to its hangar at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fix a problem found in the upper portion of the vehicle. NASA engineers found an interruption in the flow of helium — which is needed for launch — in the rocket.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said the work needed to fix the problem could only be done at the giant Vehicle Assembly Building hangar at KSC. He also noted that a similar helium issue had cropped up on the SLS’s first flight back in 2022.
“I understand people are disappointed by this development,” Isaacman wrote in a statement on X. “That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.”
The setback comes just a day after the agency announced it was targeting a March 6 launch for the lunar mission called Artemis II, which will send people around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Isaacman said the launch will not take place in March now, with April being the earliest next launch opportunity.
On Thursday, NASA conducted an elaborate dress rehearsal with the rocket, where engineers filled the vehicle with propellant and simulated many of the steps that will take place on launch day. The agency had set the March launch date after that exercise seemed to go smoothly.