Nasa to launch historic Artemis II moon mission on 6 March after delays

"Nasa said on Friday it was planning to launch its delayed Artemis II moon mission on 6 March after successfully completing a fueling test that had caused it to stand down earlier this month. Jared Isaacman, the space agency's newly confirmed administrator, cited major progress since the original so-called wet dress rehearsal in which engineers discovered liquid hydrogen leaking from the space launch system (SLS) rocket on its Florida launchpad at Cape Canaveral."

"Nasa has several dates available in early March to launch Artemis, which will conduct a 10-day trip around the moon, but not land. The flight will take humans further into space then ever before and, according to Nasa, the mission will fly about 4,700 miles (7,600km) beyond the far side of the moon, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970."

"The mission will test systems for future deep-space exploration. The mission is in preparation for Artemis III, scheduled for 2028, which will be the first human landing on the moon since the final Apollo program flight in December 1972. The successful fueling test was a welcome bright spot for Nasa, which acknowledged in a damning report published on Thursday a succession of failures on Boeing's ill-fated Starliner capsule."

NASA plans to launch Artemis II on March 6 after completing a successful fueling test that had earlier prompted a stand-down. Engineers previously found liquid hydrogen leaking from the SLS rocket during a wet dress rehearsal on the Cape Canaveral launchpad. Four astronauts, three Americans and one Canadian, entered a second quarantine ahead of the target date while teams conduct further preparatory work. Artemis II will perform a 10-day lunar flyby, traveling about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon and exceeding Apollo 13's distance record. The mission will test systems for future deep-space exploration and prepare for Artemis III in 2028. NASA also acknowledged failures in Boeing's Starliner program.

Read at www.theguardian.com