NASA moves its Artemis II moon rocket off the launch pad for more repairs

NASA is moving its grounded Artemis satellite rocket from the motorboat pad backmost to its hangar for much repairs

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA moved its grounded Artemis satellite rocket from the motorboat pad backmost to its hangar Wednesday for much repairs.

The slow-motion trek astatine Florida’s Kennedy Space Center was expected to instrumentality each day. The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket had spent a period astatine the pad acceptable for imaginable liftoff, but encountered a bid of problems superior capable to necessitate a instrumentality to the Vehicle Assembly Building, astir 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away.

Managers ordered the rollback implicit the play aft the rocket’s helium pressurization strategy malfunctioned. Already delayed a period by hydrogen substance leaks, the motorboat squad had been targeting March for astronauts' archetypal travel to the satellite successful decades. But present the Artemis II lunar fly-around by a U.S.-Canadian unit is disconnected until astatine slightest April.

All 4 astronauts were astatine the U.S. Capitol connected Tuesday nighttime for President Donald Trump's State of the Union code arsenic invited guests, since the formation hold means they nary longer request to quarantine.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives enactment from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely liable for each content.

Sponsored Content by Taboola