A huge lunar rocket POTwhich will remain grounded at least until April, will return to the hangar this week for more repairs before astronauts come aboard.
The US space agency reported on Sunday that on Tuesday it plans to make the slow 6.4 kilometer (4 mile) journey through the Kennedy Space Centerweather permitting.
NASA had barely finished a new fuel loading test Thursday to make sure dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks had been sealed when another problem arose.
This time, the rocket’s helium system failed, further delaying the first astronaut trip to the Moon in more than half a century.
Engineers had just controlled the hydrogen leaks and had set a launch date for March 6—already a month late—when the helium problem arose. The flow of helium to the upper stage of the rocket was interrupted; Helium is necessary to bleed the engines and pressurize the fuel tanks.
“It is necessary to return to the Vehicle Assembly Building in Kennedy to determine the cause of the problem and solve it”NASA said in a statement.
NASA indicated that the rapid return to the preparation platform helps maintain a launch attempt in April, but stressed that this will depend on how repairs progress. The space agency only has a few days each month to launch the four-person crew around the Moon and back.
The three Americans and one Canadian assigned to the Artemis II mission remain on standby in Houston. They will become the first people to fly to the Moon since NASA’s Apollo program, which sent 24 astronauts there between 1968 and 1972.