NASA targets March for Artemis moon mission after fueling test success

13 hours ago 5

NASA aims to nonstop astronauts to the satellite successful March aft acing the latest rocket fueling test

ByMARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer

February 20, 2026, 11:20 AM

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA aims to nonstop astronauts to the satellite successful March aft acing the latest rocket fueling test.

Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that motorboat teams made “major progress” betwixt the archetypal countdown rehearsal, which was disrupted by hydrogen leaks earlier this month, and the 2nd test, which was completed without important seepage Thursday night.

The trial was “a large measurement toward America’s instrumentality to the lunar environment," Isaacman said connected the societal media level X.

NASA could motorboat 4 astronauts connected the Artemis II lunar fly-around arsenic soon arsenic March 6 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. To support their options open, the 3 Americans and 1 Canadian program to spell into the mandatory two-week wellness quarantine Friday night.

The abstraction bureau has lone 5 days successful March to motorboat the unit aboard the Space Launch System rocket, earlier lasting down until April. February's opportunities evaporated aft unsafe amounts of liquid hydrogen leaked during the archetypal fueling demonstration.

Technicians replaced 2 seals, starring to Thursday's palmy rerun. The countdown clocks went each the mode down to the desired 29-second mark.

The fixes worked, but there's inactive pending enactment including conducting a formation readiness review, said NASA's Lori Glaze.

Commander Reid Wiseman and 2 of his unit monitored Thursday's cognition alongside motorboat controllers. The astronauts volition beryllium the archetypal to alert to the satellite since Apollo 17 closed retired NASA's archetypal section successful satellite exploration successful 1972.

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