Liste der Startfenster für Artemis II von Anfang Februar bis Ende April 2026:
Datum - Zeit in Weltzeit - Helligkeit - Dauer 7. Febr. 2026 - 02:41 (3,58 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 8. Febr. 2026 - 03:46 (4,65 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 9. Febr. 2026 - 04:20 (5,20 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 10. Febr. 2026 - 05:05 (5,96 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 11. Febr. 2026 - 06:05 (5,99 h vor Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min.
07. März 2026 - 01:29 (2,05 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 08. März 2026 - 01:57 (2,51 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 09. März 2026 - 02:56 (3,48 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 10. März 2026 - 03:52 (4,40 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 11. März 2026 - 04:48 (5,36 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 115 Min.
01. April 2026 - 22:24 (1,28 h vor Sonnenaufgang) - 120 Min. 04. April 2026 - 00:00 (0,30 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 05. April 2026 - 00:53 (1,17 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 06. April 2026 - 01:40 (1,95 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 07. April 2026 - 02:36 (2,87 h nach Sonnenuntergang) - 120 Min. 30. April 2026 - 22:66 (1,86 h vor Sonnenaufgang) - 120 Min.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
NASA’s technicians and engineers will prepare the Artemis 2 rocket for its wet dress rehearsal, now planned no earlier than Feb. 2.
A wet dress rehearsal is the testing of fueling operations and countdown procedures. The test involves the fueling of “cryogenic, or super-cold, propellants” that “run through the countdown, and practice safely draining the propellants from the rocket.”
NASA said in update that “additional wet dress rehearsals may be required to ensure the vehicle is completely checked out and ready for flight. If needed, NASA may rollback SLS and Orion to the Vehicle Assembly Building for additional work ahead of launch after the wet dress rehearsal.” If NASA needs to rollback the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building this could delay the currently scheduled Feb. 6 launch to another day and possibly to March. However, NASA has four additional launch windows in February, the 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th.
The uncrewed Artemis 1 mission that flew the Orion spacecraft around the Moon in 2022 had numerous issues during its own wet dress rehearsals which NASA subsequently addressed.
In a media briefing on January 16, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director, said as a result several modifications have been put in place ahead of Artemis 2. Changes to how engineers load hydrogen, modifications to some of the hardware, and adjustment of flow temperatures are some of the differences she listed. She emphasized, however, that rockets can be rockets. Nothing is routine, as “you can have hardware that fails at any time.”
Bislang war ja der 2.2. als Termin für den WDR genannt worden.
Zitat Space FrontPage NASA's saying the Artemis 2 wet dress rehearsal is set for this Saturday, January 31st, at the earliest. 🚀 This upcoming SLS wet dress rehearsal is super important – it'll check the flow, all the systems, and help them figure out if they can set a launch date. 🗓️ They're planning to load over 730,000 gallons (2.7 million L) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen during the wet dress rehearsal tanking test for the Space Launch System rocket. 💧 #NASA #Artemis #SLS #Rocket #Space #Launch #Test #Exploration 📷NASA
Zitat Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida continue to prepare the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and ground infrastructure in advance of the Artemis II test flight. Engineers have remained on track or ahead of schedule as they work through planned activities at the launch pad and are getting ready to conduct a wet dress rehearsal, leading up to a simulated “launch” as early as Saturday, Jan. 31.
During several “runs,” the wet dress rehearsal will test the launch team’s ability to hold, resume, and recycle to several different times in the final 10 minutes of the countdown, known as terminal count. The rehearsal will count down to a simulated launch at 9 p.m. EST, but could run to approximately 1 a.m. if needed.
The first run will begin approximately 49 hours before launch when launch teams are called to their stations, to 1 minute 30 seconds before launch, followed by a planned three-minute hold and then countdown resumption to 33 seconds before launch – the point at which the rocket’s automatic launch sequencer will control the final seconds of the countdown. Teams then will recycle back to T-10 minutes and hold, then resume down to 30 seconds before launch as part of a second run.
If needed, NASA may rollback SLS and Orion to the Vehicle Assembly Building for additional work ahead of launch after the wet dress rehearsal.
Engineers and scientists also are addressing issues that cropped up during operations in preparation for crewed flight. During an evaluation of the emergency egress system, the baskets used to transport the crew and other pad personnel from the mobile launcher in an emergency stopped short of the terminus area located inside the pad perimeter. Since then, the brakes of the system have been adjusted to ensure the baskets fully descend. In the coming days, technicians also will take additional samples of Orion’s potable water system to ensure the crew’s water is drinkable. Initial samples showed higher levels of total organic carbon than expected.
Crew also remain in quarantine in Houston, which they entered on Jan. 23.
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #4Bislang war ja der 2.2. als Termin für den WDR genannt worden, aufgrund zum Ausbruch gelangter Arktis im Sonnenscheinstaat.
Jetzt wird er wieder genannt, aber mit Verschiebung des Starttermins.
Zitat NASA delays Artemis II moon launch due to rare arctic outbreak in Florida
The space agency said the earliest possible date for the Artemis II launch would occur on Sunday, Feb. 8.
Originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30, the dress rehearsal is now set to take place no earlier than Monday, Feb. 2.
"Over the past several days, engineers have been closely monitoring conditions as cold weather and winds move through Florida," NASA said. "Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast given the rare arctic outbreak affecting the state and decided to change the timeline."
NASA said it will wait to set an official date for the 4-person space crew launch until after the wet dress rehearsal can happen.
Zitat Blue Origin announced Friday that it is pausing flights aboard its suborbital space tourism rocket New Shepard. Since 2021, New Shepard has provided 10-minute flights to the edge of space for wealthy thrill seekers, celebrities and special guests.
The company, founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, said in a Friday statement that it’s halting the joyrides for at least two years in order to “shift resources to further accelerate development of the company’s human lunar capabilities.”
Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX each hold a NASA contract to develop a vehicle capable of ferrying astronauts from deep space to the lunar surface.
As of now, SpaceX is slated to supply the lander that will complete NASA’s first moon-landing mission since the Apollo era, called Artemis III, that is currently scheduled to take off by 2028 but could suffer additional delays — in part because the SpaceX lander may not be ready in time.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy issued warnings to the dueling companies in October, when he was also serving as NASA’s acting administrator. He indicated that NASA may use Blue Origin’s lander for Artemis III if SpaceX’s lander is too far behind schedule.
“If SpaceX is behind, but Blue Origin can do it before them, good on Blue Origin,” Duffy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in October. “But … we’re not going to wait for one company. We’re going to push this forward and win the second space race against the Chinese.”
Zitat Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center are conducting a prelaunch test to fuel the Artemis II Space Launch System—a vital step in ensuring this rocket is ready for its upcoming trip around the Moon.
During the rehearsal, teams will demonstrate the ability to load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants into the rocket, conduct a launch countdown, and practice safely removing propellant from the rocket without astronauts inside the spacecraft.
Programming for this static feed begins at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 UTC) on Feb. 2. The rehearsal will count down to a simulated launch at 9 p.m. EST (0200 Feb. 3 UTC), but could run to approximately 1 a.m. (0600 UTC) if needed.
Coverage for this broadcast will feature a single live feed camera view of the rocket at the launch pad that will include graphics, as various teams are using the test to practice operations ahead of launch.
Die Zeitangaben der NASA sind in Eastern Standard Time, für MEZ sind also 6 Stunden draufzuschlagen.
Zitat 12:27 PM Following successful chilldown of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen lines, teams started slowly filling the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s core stage with super-cold liquid hydrogen, chilled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit, then with liquid oxygen chilled to minus 297 degrees. This marks the official start of propellant loading for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal.
Slow fill is a deliberate process that allows the tanks and associated hardware to thermally condition before transitioning to fast fill. This step minimizes thermal stress and ensures the integrity of the system as hundreds of thousands of gallons of cryogenic propellant flow into the core stage.
12:38 PM NASA teams have transitioned to fast fill of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s core stage with super-cold liquid hydrogen, chilled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit and liquid oxygen chilled to minus 297 degrees. Fast fill rapidly loads hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into their core stage tanks.
12:57 PM - Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal: Liquid Hydrogen Chilldown Underway for Upper Stage Teams began chilling down the liquid hydrogen lines for the interim cryogenic propulsion stage of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. This critical step cools the propellant lines ahead of loading super-cold liquid hydrogen, chilled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit, into the SLS’s upper stage tank.
As teams continue to fuel the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s core stage with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, teams began propellant loading operations for the rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS), or upper stage. The launch control team is filling the ICPS with liquid hydrogen.
1:42 PM Teams have stopped the flow of liquid hydrogen through the tail service mast umbilical interface into the core stage after leak concentrations exceeded allowable limits. Stopping the flow allows engineers to perform troubleshooting procedures that were developed after Artemis I. Liquid oxygen continues to flow into the core stage, and liquid hydrogen continues to flow into the upper stage.
2:11 PM Teams have started chilling down the lines used to feed liquid oxygen into the upper stage. Troubleshooting of liquid hydrogen loading into the core stage continues.
3:24 PM After teams temporarily resumed fast fill of liquid hydrogen operations into the core stage, initial steps to correct the leak proved unsuccessful. The leak rate at the interface of the tail service mast umbilical continued to exceed the allowable limits. Liquid hydrogen filling operations on both the core stage and upper stage are paused as the team meets to determines next steps.
3:56 PM Ground teams have resumed the fast fill of liquid hydrogen operations into the core stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Operations were stopped twice after leak rates at the interface of the tail service mast umbilical exceeded allowable limits. Engineers will attempt to complete fast fill and begin topping off the tank. Should that be successful, they will attempt to manage the hydrogen concentration, keeping it within acceptable limits during core stage hydrogen loading. Once the tank is full, the rocket will go into a replenish phase in which the flow rates are reduced; this is expected to help control the liquid hydrogen concentration level in the umbilical. Teams are reinitiating liquid oxygen flow into the upper stage.
4:41 PM NASA teams have completed filling the core stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with liquid hydrogen and transitioned to topping mode. Topping ensures the tank reaches its full capacity with super-cold liquid hydrogen chilled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit.
Engineers continue to watch the leak at the interface of the tail service mast umbilical, but the liquid hydrogen concentration in the umbilical remains within acceptable limits.
5:07 PM Fueling of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket is proceeding on all fronts, following earlier pauses on liquid hydrogen flows.
Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the core stage are in the replenish phase. Liquid oxygen has also reached the replenish stage on the upper stage. Replenish mode keeps the tank at flight-ready levels by replacing any cryogenic propellant lost to boil-off.
On the upper stage, the liquid hydrogen fill has moved into fast fill.
Following both stages of the rocket being in replenish mode, the launch director will assess readiness to send the Artemis closeout crew out to Launch Pad 39B to proceed with Orion closeout operations, including hatch closures.
5:41 PM Following the vent and relief test on the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) liquid hydrogen tank, NASA teams have entered the topping phase of fueling liquid hydrogen. The vent and relief test verifies that the vent and relief valves operate correctly to maintain safe pressure levels inside the upper stage liquid hydrogen tank, while topping ensures the upper stage tank reaches full capacity.
Following topping, teams will move to replenish mode, keeping the ICPS tank at flight-ready levels into terminal count. Meanwhile, all other propellant tanks on SLS are in replenish mode.
6:03 PM NASA teams have transitioned all cryogenic tanks on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket to replenish mode during the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal. This includes both liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks for the core stage and the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Engineers continue to monitor liquid hydrogen concentration levels in the tail service mast umbilical, where a leak was previously detected. Levels are currently stable.
Teams enter replenish mode because cryogenic propellants naturally warm and evaporate over time, even in insulated tanks. Replenish counteracts this by continuously adding small amounts of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to maintain proper levels and pressure. This ensures the rocket remains fully fueled and stable as the countdown progresses toward terminal count.
Following all stages replenish, teams will perform final system checks and verify valve and sensor performance before transitioning to the terminal countdown sequence, which includes simulated launch operations and final readiness verifications. The countdown clock has also entered a 40-minute hold, a new addition from Artemis I.
With all stages in replenish, the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal is now in its final fueling configuration, bringing operations closer to terminal count. NASA’s closeout crew is preparing to head to Launch Complex 39B to ensure safety and readiness during the critical fueling operations.
6:50 PM As part of the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal, NASA’s Artemis II closeout crew and pad rescue team are en route to Launch Pad 39B. The closeout crew will head to the White Room inside the crew access arm on the mobile launcher and are responsible for securing the Orion spacecraft and ensuring all access points are properly configured before simulated crew ingress operations.
The White Room is the environmentally controlled area at the end of the crew access arm, providing a clean and safe space for astronauts to enter Orion on launch day. During the wet dress rehearsal, the closeout crew will close the spacecrafts’ hatches, verify hatch seals, check environmental conditions, and confirm all systems are ready for the next steps in the countdown.
Their work is critical for maintaining safety and readiness as Artemis II moves closer to its first crewed mission around the Moon.
Stay tuned for more updates and watch live views from Launch Pad 39B as wet dress rehearsal continues. Though the rehearsal has been counting down to the opening of a simulated launch window at 9 p.m. Mon, Feb. 2, the test could go until approximately 1 a.m. Feb. 3.
7:27 PM As part of the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal, NASA teams are performing final preparations and closure of the Orion crew module hatch inside the White Room at Launch Pad 39B. This step simulates launch day procedures, ensuring the spacecraft is sealed and ready for crew to enter Orion for launch.
Übrigens trifft das auf kein sehr ausgeprägtes Interesse, wie es schein. Auf dem Livefeed der NASA sind es zurzeit 1800 Zuschauer, auf dem von The Launch Pad (der alle Weltraumbahnhöfe in den USA abdeckt) 1200.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat A hydrogen leak at the base of NASA’s giant SLS moon rocket Monday threw a wrench into a carefully planned countdown “wet dress” rehearsal, but engineers were able to manage a workaround and the test proceeded toward a delayed, simulated launch.
Whether mission managers will be able to clear the rocket for launch as early as Sunday to propel four astronauts on a flight to the moon will depend on the results of a detailed overnight review and post-test analysis. NASA only has three days — Feb. 8, 10 and 11 — to get the mission off this month or the flight will slip to March.
Given no other major problems cropped up with the rest of the countdown, it would appear NASA has a shot at a Super Bowl Sunday launch, but the agency did not reveal how far out of limits the leak was or whether any repairs might be needed.
The practice countdown began Saturday evening — two days late because of frigid weather along Florida’s Space Coast — and after a meeting Monday morning to assess the weather and the team’s readiness to proceed, Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson cleared engineers to begin the remotely-controlled fueling operation.
The test got underway about 45 minutes later than planned, but it initially appeared to be proceeding smoothly as supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel were pumped into the Space Launch System rocket’s first stage tanks. Shortly after, hydrogen began flowing into the rocket’s upper stage as planned.
But after the first stage hydrogen tank was about 55 percent full, a leak was detected at an umbilical plate where a fuel line from the launch pad is connected to the base of the SLS rocket’s first stage. After a brief pause, engineers resumed fuel flow but again cut it off with the tank about 77 percent full.
After more discussion, they decided to press ahead on the assumption the leak would decrease once the tank was full and in a replenishment mode when flow rates were reduced. And that turned out to be the case. ... For the rocket’s second launch, multiple upgrades and improvements were implemented and Blackwell-Thompson said she was optimistic the fueling test would go well.
“Why do we think that we’ll be successful? It’s the lessons that we learned,” she said last week.
“Artemis I was the test flight, and we learned a lot during that campaign, getting to launch,” she said. “And the things that we learned relative to how to go load this vehicle, how to load LOX (liquid oxygen), how to load hydrogen, have all been rolled in to the way in which we intend to load the Artemis II vehicle.”
But the countdown still ran into problems with hydrogen leakage. NASA managers planned to brief reporters on the results of the fueling test Tuesday.
Zitat NASA delays Artemis 2 moon launch to March after encountering issues during fueling test
Humanity's return to the moon will have to wait at least another four weeks.
NASA had been targeting Feb. 8 for the launch of its Artemis 2 mission, which will send four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the moon and back to Earth. But the agency just moved the timeline back, after experiencing several issues during a key prelaunch exercise called a wet dress rehearsal.
"Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test and met many of the planned objectives," NASA officials said in a statement early Tuesday morning (Feb. 3). "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."
There are five potential launch dates available in March for Artemis 2, which will lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida: March 6-9 and March 11. If the mission can't make any of those dates, another window opens in April, with launch possible on April 1, April 3-6 and April 30.
Artemis 1 experienced multiple LH2 leaks during its prelaunch campaign, which contributed to extensive delays for the mission. Originally slated to fly in spring 2022, Artemis 1 didn't get off the ground until that November. (The mission was successful, however, sending an uncrewed Orion to lunar orbit and back to Earth.)
So leaks were on the minds of many space fans during the Artemis 2 wet dress — and they popped up on the pad Monday as well.
"During tanking, engineers spent several hours troubleshooting a liquid hydrogen leak in an interface used to route the cryogenic propellant into the rocket’s core stage, putting them behind in the countdown," NASA officials wrote in the Tuesday update. "Attempts to resolve the issue involved stopping the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage, allowing the interface to warm up for the seals to reseat, and adjusting the flow of the propellant. "
The leaks observed on Monday appear similar to those that plagued Artemis 1's prelaunch campaign; they all involved LH2 and occurred at an interface with the tail service mast umbilical, a line that runs propellant to the SLS from the mobile launch tower.
The launch team dealt with the Artemis 2 leak effectively, managing to fill the SLS' LOX and LH2 tanks and keep them topped up. However, the leak rate spiked again late in the wet dress' simulated countdown, causing NASA to end the exercise with about five minutes left on the clock.
The launch team encountered a few other issues during the wet dress as well. For example, there were several dropouts of audio communications during the test, something that had also happened in the past few weeks leading up to the exercise.
In addition, "a valve associated with Orion crew module hatch pressurization, which recently was replaced, required retorquing, and closeout operations took longer than planned," NASA officials said in the update. ("Closeout operations" are those that ensure Orion is secure and ready for crew ingress. But astronaut boarding itself is not a wet dress milestone; the Artemis 2 crew did not participate in the test.)
Zitat NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman@NASAAdmin With the conclusion of the wet dress rehearsal today, we are moving off the February launch window and targeting March for the earliest possible launch of Artemis II.
With more than three years between SLS launches, we fully anticipated encountering challenges. That is precisely why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal. These tests are designed to surface issues before flight and set up launch day with the highest probability of success.
During the test, teams worked through a liquid hydrogen leak at a core stage interface during tanking, which required pauses to warm hardware and adjust propellant flow. All core stage and interim cryogenic propulsion stage tanks were successfully filled, and teams conducted a terminal countdown to about T-5 minutes before the ground launch sequencer halted operations due to an increased leak rate. Additional factors included extended Orion closeout work, intermittent ground audio dropouts, and cold-weather impacts to some cameras, along with the successful demonstration of updated Orion closeout purge procedures to support safe crew operations.
As always, safety remains our top priority, for our astronauts, our workforce, our systems, and the public. As noted above, we will only launch when we believe we are as ready to undertake this historic mission.
This is just the beginning. It marks the start of an Artemis program that will evolve to support repeated and affordable missions to the Moon, in line with President Trump’s national space policy. Getting this mission right means returning to the Moon to stay and a future to Artemis 100 and beyond.
I want to thank the talented workforce at NASA, along with our industry and international partners, who are working tirelessly on this effort. The team will fully review the data, troubleshoot each issue encountered during WDR, make the necessary repairs, and return to testing. We expect to conduct an additional wet dress rehearsal and then target the March window.
We will continue to keep the public and the media informed as readiness progresses. 7:54 AM · Feb 3, 2026
Zitat Most importantly, the test revealed NASA still has not fully resolved recurring hydrogen leaks that delayed the launch of the unpiloted Artemis I test flight by several months in 2022. Artemis I finally launched successfully after engineers revised their hydrogen loading procedures to overcome the leak.
Going into the countdown rehearsal, NASA officials hoped a smooth test would clear the way to launch the Artemis II mission as soon as Sunday, February 8. NASA has only a handful of launch opportunities for Artemis II each month, when the Moon is in the right location in its orbit to allow the Orion spacecraft to fly a so-called free return trajectory and come back to Earth for a safe reentry and splashdown.
The first launch opportunity for Artemis II next month is March 6, with a two-hour launch window opening at 8:29 pm EST (01:26 UTC on March 7).
NASA’s Artemis launch team, stationed a few miles away from the SLS rocket on its seaside launch pad, started fueling operations around midday Monday, somewhat later than scheduled due to cold temperatures at the Florida spaceport. The launch team first detected leaking hydrogen soon after they began loading the super-cold fuel into the SLS core stage.
The leak appeared in the same location it did during the Artemis I launch campaign nearly three years ago. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen flow from ground storage tanks into the SLS core stage through so-called Tail Service Mast Umbilicals (TSMUs), two roughly 30-foot-tall gray pods rising from the base of the rocket’s mobile launch platform. The TSMUs route propellant lines through connections near the bottom of the core stage, where umbilical plates on the rocket side and ground side meet. At liftoff, the umbilical plates disconnect as the rocket begins its climb off the launch pad.
NASA engineers accept that a small amount of hydrogen will escape seals in the fueling line. Agency officials said in 2022 that the safe limit was a 4 percent concentration of hydrogen gas in the housing around the fueling connector. Hydrogen levels exceeded NASA’s safety limit multiple times during the practice countdown that ran from Monday into early Tuesday.
“ Attempts to resolve the issue involved stopping the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage, allowing the interface to warm up for the seals to reseat, and adjusting the flow of the propellant,” NASA said in a statement.
NASA appeared to get past the problem Monday evening and fully loaded the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket with more than 750,000 gallons of propellant.
With fueling complete, managers sent a closeout crew to the launch pad around 6:00 pm EST (23:00 UTC) to close the hatch to the Orion spacecraft sitting atop the SLS rocket. The closeout team will help the Artemis II astronauts into the Orion capsule on launch day, but the crew was not part of the practice countdown Monday night.
The closeout crew took longer than anticipated to close and secure the hatch to the Orion spacecraft. A valve associated with Orion’s hatch pressurization inadvertently vented, according to NASA, requiring the closeout crew to retorque the valve. The launch team dealt with several other glitches, including audio dropouts on ground communication loops and camera problems believed to be caused by recent cold weather in Central Florida.
Finally, with the closeout crew a safe distance away from the rocket, the launch team gave approval to begin the final 10 minutes of the countdown shortly after midnight Tuesday. The objective was to stop the countdown clock 33 seconds prior to launch, about the same time the rocket would take control of the countdown during a real launch attempt.
Instead, the clock stopped at T-minus 5 minutes and 15 seconds. NASA said the countdown terminated “due to a spike in the liquid hydrogen leak rate.” The countdown ended before the rocket switched to internal power and fully pressurized its four propellant tanks. The test also concluded before the rocket activated its auxiliary power units to run the core stage’s four main engines through a preflight steering check, all milestones engineers hoped to cross off their checklist.
Launch controllers began work to drain the SLS rocket’s propellant tanks after calling an end to the countdown. With the test incomplete, NASA managers quickly decided to hold off on launching the Artemis II mission to allow time for ground teams to “fully review data from the test, mitigate each issue, and return to testing ahead of setting an official target launch date.”
Zitat NASA finally acknowledges the elephant in the room with the SLS rocket
The Space Launch System rocket program is now a decade and a half old, and it continues to be dominated by two unfortunate traits: It is expensive, and it is slow.
The massive rocket and its convoluted ground systems, so necessary to baby and cajole the booster’s prickly hydrogen propellant on board, have cost US taxpayers in excess of $30 billion to date. And even as it reaches maturity, the rocket is going nowhere fast.
You remember the last time NASA tried to launch the world’s largest orange rocket, right? The space agency rolled the Space Launch System out of its hangar in March 2022. The first, second, and thirds attempts at a wet dress rehearsal—elaborate fueling tests—were scrubbed. The SLS rocket was slowly rolled back to its hangar for work in April before returning to the pad in June.
The fourth fueling test also ended early but this time reached to within 29 seconds of when the engines would ignite. This was not all the way to the planned T-9.3 seconds, a previously established gate to launch the vehicle. Nevertheless mission managers had evidently had enough of failed fueling tests. Accordingly, they proceeded into final launch preparations.
The first launch attempt (effectively the fifth wet-dress test), in late August, was scrubbed due to hydrogen leaks and other problems. A second attempt, a week later, also succumbed to hydrogen leaks. Finally, on the next attempt, and seventh overall try at fully fueling and nursing this vehicle through a countdown, the Space Launch System rocket actually took off. After doing so, it flew splendidly.
That was November 22, 2022. More than three years ago. You might think that over the course of the extended interval since then, and after the excruciating pain of spending nearly an entire year conducting fueling tests to try to lift the massive rocket off the pad, some of the smartest engineers in the world, the fine men and women at NASA, would have dug into and solved the leak issues.
You would be wrong.
On Monday, after rolling the SLS rocket to be used for the Artemis II mission to the pad in January, NASA attempted its first wet-dress test with this new vehicle. At one of the main interfaces where liquid hydrogen enters the vehicle, a leak developed, not dissimilar to problems that occurred with the Artemis I rocket three years ago.
NASA has developed several ploys to mitigate the leak. These include varying the rate of hydrogen, which is very cold, flowing into the vehicle. At times they also stopped this flow, hoping the seals at the interface between the ground equipment and the rocket would warm up and “re-seat,” thereby halting the leaks. It worked—sort of. After several hours of troubleshooting, the vehicle was fully loaded. Finally, running about four hours late on their timeline, the dogged countdown team at Kennedy Space Center pushed toward the last stages of the countdown.
However, at this critical time, the liquid hydrogen leak rate spiked once again. This led to an automatic abort of the test a little before T-5 minutes. And so ended NASA’s hopes of launching the much-anticipated Artemis II mission, sending four astronauts around the Moon, in February. NASA will now attempt to launch the vehicle no earlier than March following more wet-dress attempts in the interim.
In a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, NASA officials were asked why they had not solved a problem that was so nettlesome during the Artemis I launch campaign.
“After Artemis I, with the challenges we had with the leaks, we took a pretty aggressive approach to do some component-level testing with some of these valves and the seals, and try to understand their behavior,” said John Honeycutt, chair of the Artemis II Mission Management Team. “And so we got a good handle on that relative to how we install the flight-side and the ground-side interface. But on the ground we’re pretty limited in how much realism we can put into the test. We try to test like we fly, but this interface is a very complex interface. When you’re dealing with hydrogen it’s a small molecule. It’s highly energetic. We like it for that reason. And we do the best we can.”
If NASA were really going to do the best it could with this rocket, there were options in the last three years. It is common in commercial rocketry to build one or more “test” tanks to both stress the hardware as well as ensure its compatibility with ground systems through an extensive test campaign. However, SLS hardware is extraordinarily expensive. A single rocket costs in excess of $2 billion, so the program is hardware-poor. Moreover, tanking tests might have caused damage to the launch tower, which itself cost in excess of $1 billion. As far as I know, there was never any serious discussion of building a test tank.
Hardware scarcity, due to cost, is but one of several problems with the SLS rocket architecture. Probably the biggest one is its extremely low flight rate, which makes every fueling and launch opportunity an experimental rather than operational procedure. This has been pointed out to NASA, and the rocket’s benefactors in Congress, for more than a decade. A rocket that is so expensive it only flies rarely will have super-high operating costs and ever-present safety concerns precisely because it flies so infrequently.
Until this week NASA had largely ignored these concerns, at least in public. However, in a stunning admission, NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, acknowledged the flight-rate issue after Monday’s wet-dress rehearsal test failed to reach a successful conclusion. “The flight rate is the lowest of any NASA-designed vehicle, and that should be a topic of discussion,” he said as part of a longer post about the test on social media.
The reality, which Isaacman knows full well, and which almost everyone else in the industry recognizes, is that the SLS rocket is dead hardware walking. The Trump administration would like to fly the rocket just two more times, culminating in the Artemis III human landing on the Moon. Congress has passed legislation mandating a fourth and fifth launch of the SLS vehicle.
However, one gets the sense that this battle is not yet fully formed, and the outcome will depend on hiccups like Monday’s aborted test; the ongoing performance of the rocket in flight; and how quickly SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicle make advancements toward reliability. Both of these private rockets are moving at light speed relative to NASA’s Slow Launch System.
Es geht auch komplett ohne Rakete, ohne Mondlander, ohne Weltraumbahnhof, ohne nationales Raumfahrtprogramm...
Zitat „Deutsches Houston“: Söder gibt 58 Millionen für Mondzentrum
4. Februar 2026
In wenigen Jahren sollen wieder Astronauten zum Mond fliegen. Bayern will dabei mit in der ersten Reihe stehen. Und macht dafür viel Geld locker.
Bayern geht die nächsten Schritte auf dem Weg zum Mond und zum „deutschen Houston“: Beim Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen bei München soll das Mondkontrollzentrum für künftige astronautische Mondmissionen entstehen. Dafür übergab Bayerns Ministerpräsident Markus Söder (CSU) nun einen Förderbescheid über 58 Millionen Euro. Damit beginne die Zukunft der Raumflugkontrolle im DLR, sagte die DLR-Vorstandsvorsitzende Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla. Baubeginn soll 2028 sein, und 2030 soll das Zentrum startklar sein.
Mit dem Ziel eines deutschen oder bayerischen Houston wird auf das zentrale Kontrollzentrum der US-Raumfahrtbehörde Nasa in Houston/Texas angespielt.
OHB gründet „European Moonport Company“
Zudem kündigten Söder und der Generaldirektor der europäischen Raumfahrtagentur ESA, Josef Aschbacher, an, möglichst schneller als geplant europäische Technologie zum Mond fliegen zu wollen: Vision ist eine europäische Mondstation mit viel Technik auch aus Deutschland und speziell aus Bayern. Der Raumfahrtkonzern OHB gab dazu im Beisein Söders die Gründung einer eigenen „European Moonport Company“ bekannt. Das Unternehmen hat gemeinsam mit dem Münchner Flughafen ein erstes Konzept für eine zentrale Start- und Landebasis auf der Mondoberfläche erarbeitet.
Der Mond sei so wichtig wie seit Jahrzehnten nicht mehr, sagte Söder. Zwar wolle man weiterhin mit den USA kooperieren - aber Europa solle noch besser und noch stärker werden. „Der Mond ist unser Sprungbrett ins All.“ Söder betonte, der Mond sei letztlich auch eine Zwischenstation zum Mars.
Aschbacher erklärte, man wolle den Mond quasi als „nächsten Kontinent“ erforschen. Doch bevor man wieder Astronauten auf den Mond bringen könne, müsse man mit Robotern und anderer Technologie beginnen. Sein Ziel sei es, dass dies nicht erst im Jahr 2030 oder 2031 geschehe, sondern schneller.
„Mit der Gründung der European Moonport Company unterstützen wir die europäische Ambition, aus eigener Kraft eine dauerhafte Präsenz auf dem Mond aufzubauen“, sagte OHB-Vorstandschef Marco Fuchs. Der Mond sei schon immer ein spannendes Ziel gewesen. „Wir wollen Europas Aufbruch zum Mond nicht nur begleiten, sondern aktiv mitgestalten.“
Unser Bonsai-Kanzlerimitat halluziniert von "Fusionskraftwerken", die in 20, 30 Jahren die Windkraft ablösen sollen, um dieses Land mit Energie zu versorgen. Söder faselt vom "Mond als Sprungbrett ins All", dabei können die Deutschen nicht mal eine Leichtrakete in die Erdumlaufbahn starten. Haben sich diese Gestalten eigentlich komplett von der Wirklichkeit verabschiedet?
Zitat Windenergie ist für Merz nur eine Zwischenlösung. Der Bundeskanzler sieht die Zukunft der Stromversorgung in der Kernfusion.
Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz hat die Rolle der Windenergie in der deutschen Stromversorgung deutlich relativiert. Deutschland werde noch "zehn Jahre, 20 Jahre, vielleicht 30 Jahre" auf Windkraft angewiesen bleiben, sagte der CDU-Politiker und bezeichnete die Anlagen laut Bild(öffnet im neuen Fenster) als "Übergangstechnologie".
Für die Zeit nach dieser Übergangsphase richtet Merz den Blick demnach auf die Kernfusion. Bei diesem Verfahren werden Atomkerne unter extremen Temperaturen miteinander verschmolzen, wodurch große Energiemengen freigesetzt werden.
Im Unterschied zur Kernspaltung entstehen dabei nur in begrenztem Umfang radioaktive Rückstände, zudem gilt eine unkontrollierbare Kettenreaktion in einem Fusionskraftwerk als ausgeschlossen. Mit Blick auf die möglichen Folgen der Technologie erklärte Merz, dann werde Strom so günstig, "dass es keine anderen Erzeugungsmethoden mehr brauche".
Zitat China’s Mengzhou spacecraft passes key test for 2030 crewed moon mission with Long March-10 rocket
Test features first flight and controlled vertical splashdown of a Long March-10 carrier rocket
China has successfully completed a crucial safety test and fired off a new-generation rocket as part of the country’s preparations for a crewed mission to the moon. Wednesday’s escape test on board the Mengzhou crew carrier was designed to ensure that astronauts could be safely returned to Earth if something went wrong during the launch.
The Chinese space programme had already carried out a ground-level safety test in June, but the latest test was designed to check that crew members would be able to escape after lift-off.
The test also featured the first flight and a controlled vertical splashdown of a Long March-10 carrier rocket, which is being developed to launch Chinese astronauts to the moon.
The uncrewed vessel took off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan aboard a Long March-10 prototype test rocket at 11am on Wednesday. The Mengzhou spacecraft heads back to Earth after separating from the Long March-10 rocket on Wednesday. Photo: QQ.com
The Mengzhou vessel separated from the rocket shortly after launch, before splashing down in the ocean at its designated landing spot, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
The first stage of the Long March-10 rocket also safely splashed down in its designated ocean landing spot, CASC said. The state-owned aerospace contractor developed both the rocket and the crewed spacecraft.
In a statement posted on social media on Wednesday, CASC said the “successful completion of the first stage’s return flight and controlled splashdown marks a significant advancement for [China] in the field of reusable rocket technology”.
This included the reliability of multiple engine ignitions and navigation control during the return phase, which would pave the way for future flight tests and sea-based recovery of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, CASC said.
Zitat Wednesday’s test was a key step towards the full launch of the Mengzhou crew carrier. Currently the country relies on the Shenzhou vessels – based on the old Soviet Soyuz spacecraft – to carry its astronauts into space. Those vessels rely on rocket-mounted escape systems, but the Mengzhou spacecraft have solid-fuel engines that can independently execute emergency escape and crew recovery operations. The modular Mengzhou spacecraft has two variants: a seven-astronaut near-Earth model designed to support the country’s Tiangong space station and a model with a smaller crew capacity for missions to the moon.
The latter is expected to work in tandem with the Lanyue lunar surface lander, designed to carry two astronauts to the moon’s surface. In August, a prototype Lanyue lander successfully completed a take-off and landing test under conditions designed to simulate lunar gravity. The Long March-10 is a new-generation heavy-lift rocket that is expected to help support the country’s future crewed missions. The Long March-10A rocket is a partially reusable model that will feature a recoverable first stage.
Images posted on Chinese social media showed the Ling Hang Zhe, the ship designed to recover the first stage of a Long March-10 series rocket, being prepared ahead of Wednesday’s launch. The ship features a catch tower with nets designed to catch hook structures located on the rocket’s first stage.
After landing astronauts on the moon, China aims to build an international research station near the lunar south pole by 2035 – plans that could see it racing with Musk who said this week that he wanted to set up a “self-growing city” on the moon within the next 10 years.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Es war der erste Start einer Langer-Marsch-10 überhaupt, und wie der Meldung zu entnehmen, diente er zum einen zum Test des Rettungssystems der Mengzhou-Kapsel sowie der kontrollierten, weichen Landung der Startstufe. Bei diesem Flug hat die Startstufe eine Höhe von 105 km erreicht und ist weich/kontrolliert im genau vorgesehenen Bereich gewassert. Der Erste Start einer LM-10 in die Umlaufbahn ist für Endes dieses Jahres geplant. Die bemannte Version hat zusammen mit der Kapsel eine Höhe von 92 m. Die sieben Brennkammern der ersten Stufe entwickeln auf Meereshöhe einen Schub von zusammen 8750 Kilonewton; das reicht um eine Nutzlast von 70 t in die niedrige Erdumlaufbahn zu bringen und 27 t auf einen Transferorbit zum Mond zu befördern. Aus Sicherheitsgründen ist diese erste kontrollierte Landung 200 m vom dafür vorgesehenen Bergungsschiff erfolgt.
Ansonsten steppt heute und morgen in Sachen 🚀 der 🐻. Heute (Mi., 11.2.) gab es zudem den Start der Starlink-Tranche 17-34 mit 25 Starlink-Mini-Satelliten von Vandenberg. Für den morgigen Donnerstag stehen auf dem Plan (alle Zeiten in MEZ):
- 07:30 Jielong-3 von einer schwimmenden Plattform im südchinesischen Meer; Start eines Satelliten der pakistanischen Raumfahrtbehörde, von dem nur bekannt ist, daß er der zweite einer Reihe von Aufklärungssatelliten ist; Nr. 1 ist am 17.1.2025 gestartet worden. 🇨🇳 🇵🇰 - 09:30 eine Vulcan Centaur von ULA/United Launch Alliance: GSSAP 7 & 8. Cape Canaveral, Startkomplex 41. Das Kürzel steht für "Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Programm" - ebenfalls Aufklärungssatelliten. 🇺🇸 - 09:56 eine Proton-M von Baikonur - Startrampe 81 (das hat nichts mit der im November außer Gefecht gesetzten "ISS-Startrampe" 31 zu tun): Elektron-L Nr. 5; Wettersatellit. 🇷🇺 - 11:38 Cape Canaveral, Falcon 9: Crew Dragon mit der Crew-12 zur ISS. Startrampe 40. Jessica Meir (NASA), Jack Hathaway (NASA), Sophie Adenot (ESA) und Andrej Fedjajew (Roskosmos), wobdurch sich die Zahl der Besatzungsmitglieder auf der ISS von zurzeit 3 auf 7 erhöht. Der Booster ist der erste, der auf der neu angelegten Landezone 40 ausfsetzen soll. 🇺🇸 - 17:45 eine Ariane 64 von Kourou mit 32 Kuipersats für das Konkurrenzunterfangen von Amazon zur Starlink, der erste von 18 Starts, den Amazon Leo dafür bei Arianespace gebucht hat. Erststart der Bauvariante A64, die im Gegensatz zur bisher geflogenen Variante A62 über 4 statt 2 Feststoffbooster verfügt, das das Startgewicht von 530 auf 860 Tonnen erhöht und die Nutzlastkapazität für die niedrige Erdumlaufbahn von 10,35 t auf 21,05 t erhöht. 🇪🇺 🇫🇷
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #17Vulcan Centaur von ULA/United Launch Alliance: GSSAP 7 & 8. Cape Canaveral, Startkomplex 41
Ein nicht ganz bilderbuchmäßiger Start. Bei einem der 4 Feststoff-Booster ist die Austrittsdüse der Brennkammer durchgebrannt.
Zitat United Launch Alliance said an issue affected one of the four solid rocket boosters that helped propel its Vulcan rocket into space Thursday on a mission for the United States Space Force. Despite the problem the rocket, making only its fourth flight, continued on its planned trajectory, the company said.
The 202-foot-tall (61.6 m) rocket thundered away from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:22 a.m. EST (0922 UTC) but less than 30 seconds into the flight, there appeared to be a burn through of one of the nozzles on a Northrop Grumman-built graphite epoxy motor (GEM) 63XL solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
Shortly after, as the rocket performed its pitch over maneuver, the vehicle began to roll in a more pronounced way than is typical for this stage of flight. The Vulcan rocket appeared to counteract the anomaly and the SRBs jettisoned as planned at T+ 1 minute, 37 seconds into the flight.
“We had an observation early during flight on one of the four solid rocket motors, the team is currently reviewing the data,” ULA said in a statement roughly an hour after liftoff. “The booster, upper stage, and spacecraft continued to perform on a nominal trajectory.” ... The “observation” noted on one of the SRBs on Thursday morning’s flight marks the second time in just four flights that ULA ran into a similar issue.
A burn through was noted during the second certification launch of Vulcan back on Oct. 4, 2024. ULA and Northrop Grumman went through a series of tests and analysis to address the anomaly, including a hot fire test in Utah.
Ultimately, the U.S. Space Force deemed Vulcan capable to launch national security payloads for it and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The USSF-106 mission on Aug. 12, 2025, went smoothly, giving ULA leadership confidence in their launch vehicle.
“We’ve had a couple of anomalies that we’ve worked through. You all are aware of those. Those are behind us now and so the Vulcan rocket is ready to go,” said John Elbon, the interim CEO of ULA, during a virtual media roundtable on Tuesday.
Die Vulcan Centaur kann wahlweise mit 2, 4 oder 6 Feststoff-Boostern ausgestattet werden. Diese Raketen haben eine Höhe von 22 m; die Brenndauer beträgt 87 Sekunden, und jedes davon entwickelt einen Schub von 2061 kN. Als Treibstoff dient eine Mischung aus Hydroxyl-terminiertem Polybutadien und einem Verbundstreibstoff aus Ammoniumperclorat.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat NASA is loading liquid hydrogen aboard its Space Launch System moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday for an unpublicized but crucial test of the repairs made to a leaky umbilical that derailed a countdown rehearsal on Feb. 2.
The operation to load liquid hydrogen into the huge fuel tank on the rocket’s core stage was thought to be already underway at launch complex 39B on Thursday morning. The test will determine if new seals installed in the launch pad umbilical are working.
“As part of our work to assess the repair we made in the area where we saw elevated hydrogen gas concentrations during the previous wet dress rehearsal, engineers are testing the new seals by running some liquid hydrogen across the interface and partially filling the core stage liquid hydrogen tank. The data will inform the timeline for our next wet dress rehearsal,” a NASA spokesperson said about the previously unannounced test.
During the Wet Dress Rehearsal or WDR, the launch team managed hydrogen leaks from the umbilical at the base of the rocket that feeds the propellant into the rocket by stopping and starting the process, allowing the umbilical seals to warm and plug the leaks.
Liquid hydrogen is notoriously difficult to handle because its tiny molecules can escape through even the smallest imperfection in the propellant system. It is also extremely explosive when mixed with air.
The launch team was able to fully load the propellant tanks during the Feb. 2 fueling test but called off the countdown because of a large spike in hydrogen leakage when the fuel tank was pressurized during the final minutes of the countdown.
The spokesperson did not immediately provide any additional details, including the amount of hydrogen to be loaded aboard the rocket or if the propellant tank would be pressurized to duplicate the conditions that interrupted the WDR.
Following the Feb. 2 dress rehearsal, technicians disconnected the hydrogen lines which are located on a plate that retracts into a three-story-high structure that rises from the deck of the mobile launcher. There are two tail service masts, one for liquid hydrogen and one for liquid oxygen. Engineers removed and replaced the seals on two hydrogen lines.
If all goes well with the hydrogen testing on Thursday, NASA could schedule a second Wet Dress Rehearsal as soon as next week.
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #18Bei einem der 4 Feststoff-Booster ist die Austrittsdüse der Brennkammer durchgebrannt.
Zitat Eric Berger@SciGuySpace Another solid rocket booster nozzle issue is remarkably bad news for ULA. 1:39 PM · Feb 12, 2026
Zitat Max Evans@_MaxQ_ Tracking footage from this morning's launch of @ulalaunch's Vulcan rocket & the USSF-87 mission for @USSpaceForce - filmed from a perspective 3.9 miles to the west of SLC-41.
SRM nozzle burn through plainly visible on the right-hand side of the vehicle, protruding in the direction of the twin BE-4 engines on the core booster.
As alarming as this was, it's promising to see that the vehicle held a nominal trajectory as the flight progressed, per ULA's latest update. Standing by for additional word.
Zitat von Ulrich Elkmann im Beitrag #18 The “observation” noted on one of the SRBs on Thursday morning’s flight marks the second time in just four flights that ULA ran into a similar issue.
A burn through was noted during the second certification launch of Vulcan back on Oct. 4, 2024. ULA and Northrop Grumman went through a series of tests and analysis to address the anomaly, including a hot fire test in Utah.
Der Protokollant vermerkt nur nebenbei, daß die Feststoffbooster der Vulcan Centaur nicht von ULA gefertigt werden, sondern, wie ersichtlich von Northrop Grunman. Und von Northrop Grumnan stamm(t)en auch die "Cold gas thrusters," die als Steuerdüsen beim ersten bemannten Flug der Starliners von Boeing ausgefallen sind und die dazu geführt haben, daß die NASA die Kapsel unbemannt landen ließ. PPS. ULA hat auch die Feststoff-Booster des SLS für die Artemis-Mission produziert.
Zitat All booster components use steel cases repurposed from cases used on prior space shuttle flights.The five booster motors are manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah. The motors that include the propellant are the largest single component of each booster.
Seit 2019 ist es vier Mal vorgekommen, daß diese Düsen aus der Produktion von N.-G., die die austretenden heißen Gase bündeln und damit den Schub erst erzeugen, durchgebrannt sind: 2019: Omega, 2024: Vulcan Cert-2-Mission, 2025: BOLE. Und heute. Der daraus resultierende Schubabfall hat dazu geführt, daß sich die Erststufe der Vulcan stärker gedreht hat als im Flugprofil vorgesehen.
#1
Zitat In late May 2019, while conducting a static fire test of the first stage SRB, an anomaly occurred resulting in the destruction of the SRB nozzle (but not the stage itself).[22] A thorough investigation revealed that the differential pressure between the nozzle's internal pressure and surface pressure following the static fire test was greater than expected; when thrust levels dropped below a critical point upon completion of the static fire, the outside air crushed the nozzle "in an instant, just like a soda can".[23]
Zitat The loss of a solid rocket motor nozzle on the second flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur last October was caused by a manufacturing defect that has been corrected as the company awaits certification of the vehicle by the Space Force.
The Cert-2 launch of Vulcan suffered an anomaly a little more than half a minute after its Oct. 4 liftoff when the nozzle of one of the two solid rocket strap-on boosters provided by Northrop Grumman fell off. The vehicle compensated for diminished thrust that resulted from the missing nozzle and still completed its mission.
In a March 12 media roundtable, Tory Bruno, president and chief executive of ULA, said the anomaly was traced to a “manufacturing defect” in one of the internal parts of the nozzle, an insulator. Specific details, he said, remained proprietary.
“We have isolated the root cause and made appropriate corrective actions,” he said, which were confirmed in a static-fire test of a motor at a Northrop test site in Utah in February. “So we are back continuing to fabricate hardware and, at least initially, screening for what that root cause was.”
That investigation was aided by the recovery of hardware that fell off the motor while in flight, which landed near the pad, as well as “trimmings” of material left over from the manufacturing process. ULA also recovered both boosters from the ocean so that they could compare the one that lost its nozzle to the one that performed normally. The defective hardware “just stood out night and day,” Bruno said. “It was pretty clear that that was an outlier, far out of family.”
Zitat BOLE (Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension) Test Failure (June 2025) The Incident: A new, larger solid rocket booster designed by Northrop Grumman for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) suffered a nozzle failure during a static fire test in Utah on June 26, 2025. Details: The BOLE booster, designed for future Artemis missions, experienced a structural failure where the nozzle exploded around 100 seconds into the test, roughly halfway through the burn.
Zitat The test firing started normally, but there was an unusual brightening of the plume, one that could have been caused by something flying off the motor. The nozzle liberated energetically from the motor around 10 seconds before the burn ended, and there appeared to be some debris leaving the nozzle just before the main disintegration of the nozzle happened.
Northrop Grumman vice president of propulsion systems Jim Kalberer stated “Today’s test pushed the boundaries of large solid rocket motor design to meet rigorous performance requirements. While the motor appeared to perform well through a harsh burn environment, we observed an anomaly near the end of the two-plus minute burn. As a new design, and the largest segmented solid rocket booster ever built, this test provides us with valuable data to iterate our design for future developments.”
The BOLE motor is intended for use on the Block 2 version of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, beginning with the Artemis IX mission. Featuring unpainted composite casings with copper wiring wrapped around them for protection against lightning, the booster generated over 4 million pounds of thrust upon ignition and burned for approximately two minutes and 20 seconds. Sensors monitored hundreds of parameters using 763 channels of data, and a carbon dioxide quench system helped to safe the booster after its firing.
Zitat Ryan Caton@dpoddolphinpro 50% of flight Vulcans and 16% of flight GEM-63XL SRBs have had a nozzle rupture. This is really making me feel like this is a systemic design flaw. The old GEM-63s are workhorses. 2:43 PM · Feb 12, 2026
Zitat Scott Manley@DJSnM The GEM 63XL solid motors have had 2 in flight nozzle separations, but the GEM63 used on the Atlas V have no issues. The XL versions are longer and that gives them 20% more thrust, with a shorter burn time. Putting more stress on the throat and nozzle on the XL 3:02 PM · Feb 12, 2026
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk Starship V4 Tanker version will deliver >200 tons of propellant per flight, so more like 5 or 6 tanker flights to refill the lunar transit Starship in orbit.
Shouldn’t be too much of a problem if we’re doing >10k flights/year. 1:07 PM · Feb 9, 2026
Zitat NASA is loading liquid hydrogen aboard its Space Launch System moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday for an unpublicized but crucial test of the repairs made to a leaky umbilical that derailed a countdown rehearsal on Feb. 2.
The operation to load liquid hydrogen into the huge fuel tank on the rocket’s core stage was thought to be already underway at launch complex 39B on Thursday morning. The test will determine if new seals installed in the launch pad umbilical are working.
Zitat Eric Berger@SciGuySpace Yikes. NASA couldn’t even complete a test of the SLS rocket’s ground system seal for liquid hydrogen because something else broke with the ground systems. And they wait until 8 pm ET Friday to send an update on something they knew last night. 2:05 AM · Feb 14, 2026
Zitat Eric Berger@SciGuySpace NASA had literally three years after Artemis I to work on, and improve the SLS rocket ground systems. The annual budget for SLS "Ground Support Equipment" is around $650 million. It's completely unacceptable.
Zitat:Space In My Brain@SpaceInMiBrain·13h Replying to @SciGuySpace I'd love to have the power to compel an investigation into what kind of testing campaign was done on this GSE, in sections and end to end, and if inadequate, find out why. I've read that a full sized test tank was too expensive - but surely a small one could've uncovered stuff.
2:43 AM · Feb 14, 2026
Zitat Following Confidence Test, NASA Continues Artemis II Data Review
As part of robustly testing the vehicle prior to flight, NASA engineers are reviewing data after a confidence test Feb. 12, in which operators partially filled the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage liquid hydrogen tank to assess newly replaced seals in an area used to fill the rocket with propellant.
During the test, teams encountered an issue with ground support equipment that reduced the flow of liquid hydrogen into the rocket. Teams were able to gain confidence in several key objectives of the test, and data was obtained at the core stage interfaces, taken at the same time in the test where they encountered a leak during the previous wet dress rehearsal. Engineers will purge the line over the weekend to ensure proper environmental conditions and inspect the ground support equipment before replacing a filter suspected to be the cause of the reduced flow.
Engineers will examine findings before setting a timeline for the next test, a second wet dress rehearsal this month. March remains the earliest potential launch window for Artemis II.
Zitat NASA@NASA Update on our Moon mission: Following a Feb. 12 confidence test, teams are reviewing data and will examine findings before setting a timeline for the next test, a second @NASAArtemis wet dress rehearsal this month. March remains the earliest potential launch window. Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/4qACRDu 1:55 AM · Feb 14, 2026
Casey Handmer@CJHandmer·10h Just to be clear here, NASA declared its recent test a "successful wet dress rehearsal" despite missing its T-30s target by almost five minutes, botching the dreaded Orion hatch close out procedure, and managing to achieve up to 16% H2 due to copious leakage at the fueling interface. For reference, the lower flammability limit, and system requirement, is just 4%, beyond which this nightmare fuel can burn and detonate in air.
The "wet dress" was so successful, in fact, that they have to do it all over again in the unspecified near future. But before that, the same team ran a "(no) confidence test" on the leaky fueling interface which failed badly enough that they buried it until 8pm on the following Friday.
The SLS ground support budget runs at $650m per year, and they've had 1173 days since the last test to get this right.
Coincidentally it also took 1173 days for Hyman Rickover and his team to ship the world's first nuclear power reactor, wrapped in a fully functional submarine, for about a third of the total cost of the SLS's botched ground support equipment, in the 1950s. What a difference a serious team makes!
Furthermore, we are assured that the engineering on SLS/Orion is so rigorous and the team is so elite that it's totally okay to test fly this turkey with four currently living astronauts on it, not to Low Earth Orbit like some kind of participation trophy Starliner repeat, but all the way around the Moon, on a completely unique, untested configuration.
On the same week that a key SLS contractor's solid fueled booster rocket engine, launching a critical national security payload on a flagship national rocket, managed to explode, for the second time in three flights, for no apparent reason.
I'm going to say it. What do @CAgovernor and @SenTedCruz have in common? They both want to be President and they both will apparently go to the hilt to defend the worst national flagship infrastructure contractors in the history of the entire world. Why are they determined to ally so overtly with such conspicuous losers? What can they possibly be getting from such a raw deal? How can they possibly be so desperate?
We can choose to roll the dice with four lives on Artemis II. If they survive the launch, they can snap some really cool photos with their newly certified iPhones of the Moon shooting by out their window as they follow a trajectory that Apollo 13 took only under extreme duress. They can fulfill Artemis II's (I kid you not) "science objectives" by performing a visual inspection of the Moon that you can do yourself in the comfort of your own backyard with a $200 pair of binoculars.
But when (not if) something goes horribly wrong, I do not want to hear "no-one could have seen this coming" or "we followed a rigorous flight rationale process" or "we checked all the boxes" or "this was the best we could do".
At this point, the safest thing about the SLS and Orion is that they're so FUBARed that it might not even be possible to get them to T-0.
Astronauts and taxpayers deserve far better. 5:10 AM · Feb 14, 2026
Zitat Ryan Caton@dpoddolphinpro Starship 36 destroyed SpaceX's static fire facility. They built, tested, and static fired on a working backup 55 days later. It's been 1,186 days since Artemis I. 2:56 AM · Feb 14, 2026
Elon Musk@elonmusk·9h Speed is the ultimate defensive and offensive weapon
Zitat NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman@NASAAdmin I will just say we are leaning forward with transparency, sharing the blemishes and the successes, because for a program as costly and important to national security as Artemis, the public is entitled to the facts.
- The confidence test related to the seals we repaired and replaced after WDR-1 provided a great deal of data, and we observed materially lower leak rates compared to prior observations during WDR-1. I would not say something broke that caused the premature end to the test, as much as we observed enough and reached a point where waiting out additional troubleshooting was unnecessary.
- The test was performed Thursday afternoon the 12th. Crew-12 launched early the morning of the 13th. The Artemis II test data review took place the afternoon of the 13th, and we released the blog update that evening. I believe we acted in a timely manner, considering we did not want to create needless confusion alongside a crewed launch to the space station.
- Considering the issues observed during the lead-up to Artemis I, and the long duration between missions, we should not be surprised there are challenges entering the Artemis II campaign. That does not excuse the situation, but we understand it. I am impressed with the NASA team and our contractors working diligently through the campaign. They are professionals, and they know the dream they are trying to enable. I will say near-conclusively for Artemis III, we will cryoproof the vehicle before it gets to the pad, and the propellant loading interfaces we are troubleshooting will be redesigned.
- As I have stated many times, the President ensured Artemis would endure through dozens of missions, enabling repeatable and affordable operations in the lunar environment as we construct and operate a Moon base. The architecture will continue to evolve as we learn and as industry capabilities mature. Simply said, where we begin is not where we will end.
There is still a great deal of work ahead to prepare for this historic mission. We will not launch unless we are ready and the safety of our astronauts will remain the highest priority. We will keep everyone informed as NASA prepares to return to the Moon. 4:56 PM · Feb 14, 2026
Zitat NSF - NASASpaceflight.com@NASASpaceflight Good update here. Just to discuss this part:
"...will say near-conclusively for Artemis III, we will cryoproof the vehicle before it gets to the pad, and the propellant loading interfaces we are troubleshooting will be redesigned"
Artemis I's Core Stage underwent a Green Run (twice, after an abort on the first attempt). Sure, that was mostly about firing up the four RS-25s, but there's your pre-pad proploading milestone. However, that's not using ML-1's TSMUs, and the test stand at Stennis has been modified to test the EUS (Exploration Upper Stage). Curious about the path there.
Also, a TSMU redesign would normally involve the LEFT (Launch Equipment Test Facility), which we used to call "the playground for KSC GSE", but that's been somewhat repurposed (not entirely sure on the TSMU area). I'm sure that path is solvable, however.
Will be very interesting to see what this does to the schedule. But first things first, getting Artemis II through as WDR, and hopefully without a rollback involved (always best to resolve things in situ). 5:44 PM · Feb 14, 2026
Zitat Ryan Caton@dpoddolphinpro "for Artemis III, we will cryoproof the vehicle before it gets to the pad, and the propellant loading interfaces we are troubleshooting will be redesigned." - This is a welcome change from Artemis II, which did not perform a green run at Stennis, and could have performed a tanking test at LC-39B with a partial stack (Core Stage, ICPS, Boosters, without Orion).
It will also be interesting to see what/how/when those Tail Service Mast Umbilical interfaces will be redesigned.
The current Mobile Launcher will only support one more mission, Artemis III, before ML-2 takes over from Artemis IV with the SLS Block 1B. 5:38 PM · Feb 14, 2026
Zitat Latest in Cosmos@latestincosmos 🚨BREAKING: NASA Director Jared Isaacman says the U.S. is developing Nuclear Space Propulsion, plans to deploy a nuclear reactor on the Moon, and mine lunar resources
“The Chinese said they’re going to do it — we’re going to do it FIRST”
“Then we set our sights on Mars and BEYOND” 9:45 AM · Feb 13, 2026
Andrew Côté@Andercot Insane how within a few months we steered humanity directly into the plot of For All Mankind Something I think many of us wanted 8:22 AM · Feb 14, 2026
Oder, um das Motto zu zitieren, das das amerikanische SF-Magazin Super Science Stories vom September 1950 an bis zu seiner letzten Ausgabe vom August 1951 (vor exakt 75 Jahren also) in roter Schrift prominent auf jedes Titelbild hob:
"Read it today - live it tomorrow!"
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
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