NASA continues to delay the date of sending people to the Moon because of technical errors

“Engineers discovered a problem with the helium pipe into the SLS rocket. This forced us to abandon the launch date in March. We understand everyone is disappointed with the above developments. Most of the team at NASA shares the same feelings, especially those who have worked tirelessly to prepare for this great journey,” NASA Director Jared Isaacman said on February 21.

The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will be returned to the assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection, then make repairs if necessary. A full report on vehicle condition and technical problems will be published later.

“NASA encountered many obstacles during the Apollo missions in the 1960s, but then did what almost everyone thought was impossible,” Mr. Issacman said.

According to the original plan, the Artemis 2 mission was scheduled to take place on February 8, in which the SLS booster rocket and Orion spacecraft took astronauts to space around the Moon and then returned to Earth after 10 days.

The crew includes three Americans, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and astronaut Jeremy Hanse from Canada. If the mission is successful, the crew will make history because no one has flown beyond low Earth orbit since December 1972, when Apollo 17 astronauts returned from the Moon.

NASA surprised the end of last year when it announced that Artemis 2 could take place in February 2026. The decision to speed up the program seems to be an effort by the administration of US President Donald Trump to complete the task of returning people to the Moon before China can do the same.

However, the Artemis project continuously encountered obstacles and delayed progress. The Artemis 1 unmanned mission took place in November 2022, after a series of launch delays and two failed launches. NASA in early February also had to postpone the Artemis 2 launch date to March after encountering problems during a fuel refueling review, a key test before launch.