NASA's Artemis II Moon mission delayed to March 2026
NASA's next big Moon mission, Artemis II, is now delayed until at least March 2026 after engineers found a liquid hydrogen leak during a major fueling test.
Even though they managed to load up 700,000 gallons of super-cold fuel in a marathon 49-hour run, the team still needs more time to fix these technical hiccups.
Crew on standby for now
The four-person crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—were set for liftoff in February but are now on standby.
They'll go back into quarantine two weeks before launch.
NASA is eyeing March 6-9 and March 11 as main launch dates, with backups in April if needed.
Artemis II will be the 1st crewed mission to Moon
Artemis II plans to orbit Earth twice and swing within 8,000km of the Moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
Cold weather at Kennedy Space Center has also slowed things down.
NASA will run another dress rehearsal and review all data before locking in the final date—so stay tuned!