NASA has postponed the Artemis II lunar flight until March after a fueling rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center was cut short by repeated liquid hydrogen leaks. Reporters at the site said the wet dress rehearsal at pad 39B was stopped after the leak reappeared twice, and teams called off the exercise until the source can be fixed.
Agency engineers plan to repair the problem on the pad and have identified March 6 as the earliest possible launch date. Artemis II is scheduled to carry four astronauts on a roughly 10‑day mission that will travel about one quarter of a million miles, loop the spacecraft around the far side of the moon, and return to Earth for a Pacific splashdown. If it succeeds, it will mark the first time humans have left low‑Earth orbit in more than 50 years.
Launch director Charlie Blackwell‑Thompson said the team relies on roughly 500 launch‑commit criteria to decide whether to fly and emphasized they will not launch until everything meets those standards — the hardware is currently indicating it is not ready. Technicians said the unexpected leak prompted an investigation into possible seal misalignment, deformation or debris. The setback echoes Artemis I, which also required multiple fueling tests to locate and repair leaks before proceeding.