Problem with Artemis hardware to push NASA moon shot until at least March

While testing the fully stacked Artemis I rocket at Kennedy Space Center, NASA has found a problem that will delay the planned moon launch until at least March.

The Space Launch System rocket topped with the Orion capsule have been undergoing integrated testing inside the Vehicle Assembly Building ahead of a planned rollout to Launch Pad 39-B for a wet dress rehearsal in which NASA will fill up the massive tanks with fuel but not light it up.

While testing, though, one of what NASA calls the “brains” that control one of the four RS-25 engines at the base of the core stage for the rocket has malfunctioned, according to an update on NASA’s website. Each of the engine flight controllers have a primary and backup communication system with the SLS rocket, and for the controller on engine four, the backup system kept failing.

While this controller saw no issues during earlier integrated testing and worked fine when the core stage was fired up for a full burn test back in March, NASA decided it needs to replace it.

That means delaying the rollout to the launch pad, and a delay of the planned February launch window.

Now mission managers are looking at opportunities in March or April.

When it does launch, the core stage combined with the twin solid rocket boosters will provide more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, making it the most powerful rocket to blast off from Earth.

Artemis I is an uncrewed flight to circle the moon and back. Artemis II will be a crewed flight to the moon without a landing targeting May 2024, and the Artemis III mission which seeks to return humans including the first woman to the lunar surface since 1972 is now targeting 2025.