A day after NASA officials optimistically said they were on track to launch astronauts around the moon early next month, a problem with the rocket’s upper stage may now require rolling it off the launchpad for repairs.
In a post on X on Saturday morning, Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, said data showed an interruption of the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage. “This will almost assuredly impact the March launch window,” he wrote.
A rollback would almost certainly cause NASA to miss the five launch opportunities it has next month. The next set of possible launch dates is between April 1 and April 6.
An update from NASA said the problem occurred early on Saturday.
Helium is used to pressurize the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the propellant tanks. It is required to launch the rocket.
The rocket, known as the Space Launch System, is to send four astronauts on a journey to the moon and back during NASA’s Artemis II mission. Although Artemis II will not land on the moon, it will be the first time that astronauts have left low-Earth orbit since the end of the Apollo moon landings more than 50 years ago.
Mr. Isaacman said on Saturday that troubleshooting was underway and that it would most likely be necessary to roll the rocket off the launchpad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, back to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The building, which is like a giant garage for rockets, would provide technicians access to examine the upper stage and make repairs before the rocket returned to the launchpad.
On Thursday, NASA completed a dress rehearsal of the countdown. During a news conference on Friday, Lori Glaze, the acting associate administrator for NASA’s exploration systems development mission directorate, said that the test had proceeded “very smoothly” and that the space agency was in a “good position” for a March 6 launch.
Mr. Isaacman said the helium system had performed as expected during the countdown rehearsal.
“This was an unexpected development during routine helium flow operations last evening,” Mr. Isaacman wrote on X. “The teams were up all night assessing the situation.”
In preparation for the rollback, technicians are now removing platforms that were installed on Friday for the remaining work needed before launch.
Kenneth Chang, a science reporter at The Times, covers NASA and the solar system, and research closer to Earth.
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