Artemis 2 delayed until at least early March due to hydrogen fuel leak
Technical problems discovered during a pre-flight test have prompted NASA to postpone this important space mission.
The Artemis 2 moon mission was scheduled to launch on February 8, but technical problems discovered during a fuel test on Monday have now delayed the launch until at least the beginning of March.
Overnight on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, NASA conducted a critical test of the Artemis 2 SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, known as a 'Wet Dress Rehearsal'. During this test, the ground crew takes the rocket through the various steps that it will undergo prior to the actual launch, including loading liquid fuel into the rocket's tanks.
The nearly Full Moon sets behind the Artemis 2 rocket, at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B, on the morning of February 1, 2026. NASA/Jim Ross
This is designed to evaluate every system of the rocket, to ensure that everything is functioning properly, and that it will carry the astronauts safely into space.
According to NASA, the ground crew experienced several instances where they lost audio communication through the test, which is a problem that has persisted over the last few weeks. Additionally, closeout operations — where the ground crew secures the astronauts in the Orion capsule, closes and seals the hatches, and checks the environmental conditions within the spacecraft — took longer than expected due to issues with a new valve in the capsule's hatch pressurization system.
Most importantly, though, as they were loading liquid hydrogen into the rocket's fuel tanks, they discovered a leak in the system.
According to NASA, during this tanking procedure, engineers spent several hours troubleshooting this liquid hydrogen leak. The leak was detected in one of the umbilicals that connect the rocket to the mobile launching unit, which houses the lines that deliver fuel into the rocket's core stage. This initially delayed the countdown, as they paused to allow the system to warm back up, which allowed the system's seals to reset, so that they could then continue.
However, when the countdown reached T minus 5 minutes and 15 seconds before the end of the test, software designed to monitor all of the systems prior to launch, known as the Ground Launch Sequencer, automatically halted the countdown. The reason was a sudden spike in the rate of hydrogen leaking from the system.
"To allow teams to review data and conduct a second wet dress rehearsal, NASA now will target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the flight test," the space agency wrote on Tuesday.
The potential launch windows for Artemis 2 (highlighted in green), in early-2026. As of February 3, all potential February launch dates have been scrubbed. (NASA)
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This is now the second delay, so far, for Artemis 2. Extreme cold weather stretching down into the Gulf States over the weekend postponed the first planned Wet Dress Rehearsal, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 31. That delay pushed the first potential launch window from Friday, February 6 to Sunday, February 8.
This new delay means that March 6 is the next potential launch date for Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen.
The four have been in pre-launch quarantine since January 21, and will now be released. They will likely return to quarantine in the latter half of February, to await their trip to the launch platform in early March.
(Thumbnail image shows the Artemis 2 SLS at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, courtesy NASA photographer Brandon Hancock)