Artemis II, NASA’s planned crewed lunar flyby, has been moved off its February launch window and is now being targeted for March after engineers encountered a liquid hydrogen leak during a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the move follows completion of a two day rehearsal that included a 49 hour countdown begun at 8:13 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and involved Mission Control in Houston. Teams successfully filled the core and interim cryogenic propulsion stage tanks after troubleshooting, but a spike in the hydrogen leak rate halted the countdown at about T minus five minutes.
Officials said the leak required additional review and that teams will conduct a second wet dress rehearsal before setting a firm launch date. The change also allows the Artemis II crew to leave quarantine, which they entered in Houston on January 21, and to return to quarantine about two weeks before the next scheduled launch date if needed, as reported by NASA.
The mission will send four astronauts on a roughly ten day voyage around the Moon aboard Orion atop the Space Launch System, with a planned lunar flyby and a Pacific Ocean splashdown near San Diego. The crew comprises Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. NASA noted the mission is a test flight preparing for Artemis III, which aims to land on the Moon in 2027.
Northwest Astronaut Candidate And February Sky Events
Pacific Northwest ties to Artemis include Dr Lauren Edgar, a Sammamish native selected in 2025 as part of NASA’s newest astronaut candidate class, the first with a female majority. Edgar served as deputy principal investigator for the Artemis III Geology Team and holds a doctorate and master’s degree in geology from the California Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.
Edgar has more than 17 years supporting Mars mission operations and is now in Houston for an intensive two year training program that includes flying airplanes, spacewalk practice, International Space Station systems, robotic arm operations and language and geology training. She said she was impressed by the complexity of systems like the ISS and described taking a robotics class to learn how to operate the station’s robotic arm.
The February Sky Above segment also highlighted a planetary parade beginning on February 17 that will feature Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Mercury. Keith Krumm, a NASA solar system ambassador and Seattle Astronomical Society member, said Venus will appear on the horizon at sunset on the 17th, with Jupiter to the east, and that Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye while Uranus and Neptune will require binoculars or a telescope.
