NASA was forced to once again postpone the launch of its trip back to the Moon.
The Artemis II mission was initially planned to launch in 2019, but has suffered several delays since then due to problems with the spacecraft that will take astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth.
The problems appeared to have been resolved, with the Artemis mission scheduled for early March this year, but now further postponements have been announced that will mean the mission will not launch before April.
The rocket was taken to the launch pad and successfully underwent a “general test in water”, in which it was fueled and counted down, but NASA will be forced to take the aircraft back to the hangar.
The problem involved a failure in the helium flow in one of the rocket’s stages. Helium is needed to purify the engines and keep the fuel tanks at the correct pressure to ensure the rocket can take off safely.
NASA had announced that it intended to launch the rocket on March 6, after a major test in real conditions, which will not happen.
The rocket will make a journey of around 6.4 kilometers back to the hangar this Tuesday, weather permitting.
“It is necessary to return to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center to determine the cause of the problem and correct it,” NASA said in a statement.
The Artemis II mission has a crew of four astronauts, three Americans and one Canadian.
This mission, which will depart from Florida, in the southeast of the United States, it will last around ten days and will be the first manned flight around the Moon in more than 50 years.
NASA had five possible launch windows in March and also announced six possible launch windows in April.
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