Fifty-three years after the last Apollo mission (1972), we are ready to return with humans to our satellite. Artemis II will carry three NASA astronauts and one Canadian astronaut in a 10-day mission around the Moon, setting the return to the lunar surface.
But while the world eagerly awaits humans landing on the Moon, here on Earth, NASA’s engineers and executives are dealing with familiar challenges. The program is moving forward in fits and starts, periodically stumbling over one of its most critical elements: the launch system.
Meanwhile, SpaceX and Blue Origin are making significant steps in the development of key hardware for the future of the lunar program, though they still face some challenges and will need a few more years to be fully ready. At present, NASA’s costly SLS rocket remains the only available and operational vehicle to launch astronauts towards the Moon. Thus, the fastest.
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No February launch for Artemis II
Since 2024, NASA has been officially targeting early 2026 for the second Artemis mission. On January 31, teams began the preparation tests of SLS at the pad, targeting February 8 for the liftoff. The wet dress rehearsal aimed to simulate the final prelaunch steps, such as propellant loading, closing the Orion capsule hatch, and charging the batteries.
However, during the fueling operations, liquid hydrogen began to leak at an interface with the Tail Service Mast Umbilicals (TSMUs), which deliver the cryogenic propellants from the ground tanks into the SLS’s core stage through the mobile launch platform.
According to NASA, to resolve the issue, the flow of liquid hydrogen was stopped, waiting for the interface to warm up and the joints to reseat. But the countdown automatically terminated at T-5 minutes 15 seconds due to a spike in the leak rate.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson stated that some technical work can be carried out directly at the launch pad without rolling the rocket back to the VAB.
Therefore, NASA is now targeting the first available launch opportunity in the March launch window, which opens on the 7th at 01:26 UTC.
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New mission, same issues
The problem is not new. In 2022, liquid hydrogen leaks at roughly the same point repeatedly delayed the Artemis I launch, pushing it from March to November of that year, without the issue ever being fully resolved.
The lack of a technical solution three years before the Artemis II launch highlights the long-standing challenges—dating back to the Shuttle era—of dealing with liquid hydrogen, and above all, NASA’s ongoing inability to implement hardware modifications to the Space Launch System, including ground systems.
Preparations for Artemis II have already been slowed by many technical issues with the Orion capsule. In particular, the heat shield performed differently than expected, suffering greater damage during the capsule’s atmospheric reentry. As a result, NASA conducted a detailed investigation and adjusted the reentry trajectory for upcoming missions.
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Few launches, many troubles
One of the main challenges the SLS program faces is its low launch cadence, which makes every mission full of uncertainties and new technical hurdles, as acknowledged by NASA’s top civil servant, Amit Kshatriya: “This is the first time this particular machine has borne witness to cryogens. And how it breathes, and how it vents, and how it wants to leak is something we have to characterize”.
This week, more than ever, the agency’s leadership publicly acknowledged—with transparency and realism—the known issues of this system, which is expected to have a short service life. The complexity and high cost ($2 billion per launch) of the rocket will limit it to a handful of missions.
On social media, the new NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, stated: “The flight rate is the lowest of any NASA-designed vehicle, and that should be a topic of discussion.”
The Artemis vision began with President Trump, but the SLS architecture and its components long predate his administration, with much of the heritage clearly traced back to the Shuttle era. As I stated during my hearings, and will say again, this is the fastest path to return… https://t.co/bu0SvThwS9
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) February 3, 2026
Trump administration’s FY 2026 NASA budget proposed ending the SLS and Orion programs after three missions. However, in 2025, the US Senate approved additional funding for SLS rockets for Artemis IV and V.
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