Nasa has postponed its historic mission to send astronauts around the moon and back again, after issues arose during a critical test of its most powerful rocket yet.
The US space agency had planned to launch the Artemis II mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as next week, but announced overnight that it would be delayed until March, without specifying a date.
During an elaborate launch-day walkthrough, known as a “wet dress rehearsal”, engineers detected leaking hydrogen from the Space Launch System (SLS). Teams also encountered a problem with a valve associated with the Orion capsule that sits on top of the rocket, and where four astronauts will live and work while on a 10-day mission.
“Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test,” Nasa said in its announcement, adding that “teams will fully review data from the test” of the 98-metre-tall rocket.
The news will be a frustrating setback for the crew, who have been in quarantine for close to two weeks to prevent them from picking up illnesses before the mission.
Graphic showing the different parts of Nasa’s Artemis II, and that its rocket boosters are taller than the Statue of Liberty
As well as the first return of people to the vicinity of the moon in more than 50 years, Christina Koch and Victor Glover will become the first woman and first person of colour respectively to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
It will be the second flight of Nasa’s SLS rocket, after the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which was also temporarily plagued by hydrogen leaks during tests.
For Artemis II, the astronauts will not enter lunar orbit but will be the first to make the 685,000-mile round trip to travel around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission paves the way for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole. Nasa wants to eventually establish a permanent presence on the lunar surface as part of its Artemis programme, which is named after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo.
People photograph the Space Launch System and its Orion capsule. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA
The US astronaut Reid Wiseman, who spent months living and working on the International Space Station, has been selected as commander of Artemis II. Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian physicist and fighter pilot, is also part of the crew. If the trip ends successfully, Hansen will become the first non-US astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
During the overnight test on Tuesday, more than 2.6m litres (700,000 gallons) of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen had to flow into the tanks, mimicking the final stages of a real-life countdown.
Due to the delay, Nasa said the crew would re-enter quarantine again “about two weeks” before the next launch window. The agency has previously said there were several possible launch dates between February and the end of April.
