Serious problems with the racket. Reconquest of the Moon delayed
The Artemis missions, initiated during the previous term of office of Donald Trump, aim to return humanity to the Moon. Artemis II was to be a manned mission to the Silver Globe. It is true that the astronauts taking part in it will not land on its surface. Instead, orbit it in the Orion module and then return to Earth. The entire mission is expected to last 10 days.
Problems with SLS
The failure occurred a day after the astronauts were placed in isolation to ensure their health during the mission. Of course, after problems occurred, they were released.
As for the difficulties themselves, they concern the flow of helium into the upper stage of the SLS rocket. As NASA reports:
The upper stage uses helium to maintain appropriate environmental conditions for the stage engine and to compress liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the fuel tanks. The systems operated during NASA Artemis II initial tests, but teams were unable to ensure proper helium flow during normal operations and reconfiguration after the initial test, which ended on February 19. Operators use a backup method to maintain appropriate environmental conditions for the upper stage engines and the rocket, which remains in a safe configuration.
It is estimated that the problems will be solved within a few weeks, and the mission will be able to launch in April. However, it is important to remember that until then the rocket will still be tested very intensively and other problems may arise. In missions like this, everything has to work perfectly and there is no room for even the slightest mistakes.
