Helium Flaw Likely to Delay Artemis Moon Mission

An interruption in the flow of helium to the upper stage was discovered while fueling the Artemis II rocket and may require the vehicle to be rolled off the launchpad for repairs. Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, said data showed an interruption of the flow of helium to the rockets upper stage.

"This will almost assuredly impact the March launch window," he wrote. A rollback would almost certainly cause NASA to miss the five launch opportunities it has next month; the next set of possible launch dates is between April 1 and April 6. Helium is used to pressurize the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the propellant tanks.

It is required to launch the rocket. The rocket, known as the Space Launch System, is to send four astronauts on a journey to the moon and back during NASAs Artemis II mission. Although Artemis II will not land on the moon, it will be the first time that astronauts have left low-Earth orbit since the end of the Apollo moon landings more than 50 years ago.

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