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Launch Ops #launch-ops · USA/NASA February 20, 2026

NASA Takes Second Swing at Moon Rocket Test After Hydrogen Leak Sabotage

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Artemis II Rollout at Kennedy Space Center
NASA / Brandon Hancock

NASA Takes Second Swing at Moon Rocket Test After Hydrogen Leak Sabotage

NASA Attempts Redemption on Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal

NASA is rolling the dice again. On Thursday, February 19, the space agency will attempt its second "wet dress rehearsal" for the Artemis II rocket — a critical fueling test that derailed spectacularly just 17 days earlier when engineers were minutes away from a simulated launch.

The first rehearsal on February 2 came to an abrupt halt with roughly five minutes remaining on the countdown clock. As NASA finished loading more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, sensors detected a spike in the liquid hydrogen leak rate. The ground launch sequencer — an automated software system controlling the entire countdown — made the call to halt proceedings. Investigation traced the culprit to two faulty seals on the fueling lines, which NASA engineers have since replaced.

But problems kept compounding. A confidence test on February 12 stumbled when hydrogen flow to the rocket was mysteriously reduced. Engineers identified a suspect filter and swapped it out. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman acknowledged the frustration in a statement, but framed the challenges as part of the program's learning curve: "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."

A Historic Mission Worth Getting Right

What's at stake here isn't just another test launch. Artemis II represents NASA's return to human lunar spaceflight after more than five decades — a mission that will carry four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon. For the first time in history, a woman and a Black man will fly as part of a lunar crew. Success here opens the door to Artemis III, which aims to land boots on the lunar surface in 2028, establishing humanity's long-term foothold for eventual Mars exploration.

The delays sting, but they're not unprecedented. The original Artemis I mission faced similar hydrogen gremlins in 2022, requiring the rocket to return to the Vehicle Assembly Building twice before finally launching in November of that year. Those lessons should theoretically apply here — yet liquid hydrogen remains one of spaceflight's most stubborn adversaries.

Why Hydrogen Is Both Essential and Infuriating

Hydrogen has powered rockets since Apollo, offering unmatched energy density. But it's also the universal trickster of propellants. At minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit (20 kelvins), hydrogen becomes a liquid small enough to diffuse through solid metals by working its way between atomic lattices — essentially passing through what should be solid barriers. Paradoxically, the extreme cold required to keep hydrogen liquid also freezes the seals meant to contain it, creating a Catch-22 that has frustrated engineers for generations.

During the first rehearsal, NASA engineers also contended with audio communications dropouts, a replaced valve on the Orion crew capsule that malfunctioned, and another hydrogen leak attributed to cold weather. Some components had to be warmed to restore functionality. These cascading failures paint a picture of a system operating at the edge of its environmental envelope.

What Comes Next

If Thursday's wet dress rehearsal succeeds — demonstrating safe fueling of the full propellant load, closure of all Orion spacecraft hatches, and a clean simulated launch sequence — NASA will proceed to a flight-readiness review. Launch windows currently sit in March (March 6-9 or March 11), with April 30 as the hard deadline if slippage occurs.

For now, the countdown clock is running again. NASA has one shot to prove the fixes hold.

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Think of it like...

Artemis II will carry more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen fuel — equivalent to filling roughly 1,000 average swimming pools, all kept at minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit, colder than the surface of Pluto.

Related Entities

NASA·agency
Artemis II·vehicle
Space Launch System·vehicle
Kennedy Space Center·facility
Jared Isaacman·person
Artemis III·vehicle
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Image for: NASA's Twin Spacecraft Will Map Mars' Atmospheric Death
Space Weather1 day ago

NASA's Twin Spacecraft Will Map Mars' Atmospheric Death

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Image for: NASA races to fix Moon rocket before April launch window
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NASA races to fix Moon rocket before April launch window

Artemis II Hits the Repair Bay NASA's Artemis II lunar rocket and Orion spacecraft rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building on February 25, and technicians immediately went to work on a helium system malfunction that emerged during a recent test firing. Engineers traced the problem to the rocket's interim cryogenic propulsion system (ICPS) — the upper stage responsible for pushing the spacecraft toward the Moon — narrowing suspects to either a quick-disconnect seal or a check valve on the helium supply line. The issue surfaced during a wet dress rehearsal on February 21, when engineers were reconfiguring the rocket following a successful test. The helium system failure meant the upper stage couldn't be properly pressurized and conditioned for flight, a critical prerequisite before any Moon mission can launch. With an April launch window already on the calendar, the clock is ticking — but NASA engineers insist the timeline remains achievable if repairs proceed cleanly. Why Helium Matters to Moon Missions To non-engineers, helium might sound like party balloon filler. In reality, it's mission-critical infrastructure. The ICPS uses helium to maintain proper internal environmental conditions and to pressurize the upper stage tank for flight. Without adequate helium flow and pressure, the stage cannot function reliably once in space. The system connects through two umbilical interfaces: a forward plate (smaller) carrying liquid hydrogen vent and environmental control lines, and an aft plate (larger) supplying both liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, plus the helium quick-disconnect that's now suspect. The repair scope extends beyond just the helium problem. Teams are installing two sets of internal access platforms inside the launch vehicle stage adapter and removing thermal blankets to reach the problematic connection points. It's painstaking work — the kind that requires careful choreography and zero tolerance for error. Parallel Work Maximizes Schedule Efficiency While technicians tackle the helium issue, other crews are executing complementary repairs in parallel. NASA engineers have optimized the Vehicle Assembly Building work schedule to install new batteries across the SLS core stage, upper stage, and solid rocket boosters. The team will also retest the flight termination system — the rocket's safety kill switches — alongside avionics and control systems verification. The Orion spacecraft's launch abort system batteries will be recharged, and crews may refresh stowed items in the crew module. This multi-workstream approach is standard practice for large-scale vehicle processing, but it only works if the primary repair — in this case, the helium system fix — doesn't cascade into secondary problems. NASA has budgeted flexibility into the timeline, but each discovered issue compounds schedule risk. The April Window and Beyond NASA has publicly committed to an April launch opportunity for Artemis II, pending successful completion of data reviews, repairs, and system retests. The rocket will need to roll back to Launch Pad 39B in time to meet that window. If repairs extend beyond a few weeks, or if the investigation uncovers additional issues with the ICPS, the launch could slip to later availability windows. The Artemis II mission represents a crucial stepping stone for the broader lunar program — a crewed test flight of the SLS and Orion before the actual Moon landing attempt. Any delay ripples through the entire architecture. Yet rushing repairs on a vehicle bound for human spaceflight is never the answer. NASA will move methodically through diagnostics and fixes. The real deadline isn't April; it's mission success.

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Space Weather4 days ago

ESA captures 'ring of fire' eclipse from space in ultraviolet light

ESA's Proba-2 Captures Rare Annular Eclipse From Above Atmosphere On February 17, 2026, the European Space Agency's Proba-2 satellite achieved what ground-based observatories cannot: a crisp, unobstructed view of an annular solar eclipse from space. The spacecraft captured the event in extreme ultraviolet light, revealing the Sun's corona—its wispy, million-degree outer atmosphere—with unprecedented clarity. Unlike observers on Earth, who watched the Moon form a brilliant "ring of fire" across the Sun's disk, Proba-2 documented the eclipse free from atmospheric distortion, providing scientists with raw data on solar behavior that could reshape how we prepare for space weather threats to critical infrastructure. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between Earth and Sun but appears too small to completely block our star. This happens because the Moon sits farther along its elliptical orbit, making it smaller in the sky than the Sun. The result is a glowing ring—the photosphere—visible around the Moon's silhouette. While dramatic from Earth, the real scientific payoff comes from space. Proba-2's SWAP (Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System) imager operates at 17.4 nanometers, a wavelength that penetrates the Sun's corona to reveal solar flares and coronal mass ejections in detail. Ground-based telescopes cannot access this information because Earth's atmosphere absorbs ultraviolet light. Why This Matters Now The timing of Proba-2's observations arrives as space agencies worldwide confront an uncomfortable reality: we are ill-equipped for the next major solar storm. In May 2024, a geomagnetic storm rated G4 (severe) disrupted farming equipment GPS across North America and degraded power grid stability. Scientists warn that a Carrington Event-scale storm—possible within the next 12 years—could cause trillions in economic damage. By monitoring the Sun's corona during eclipses, researchers can refine models that predict when and where coronal mass ejections will hit Earth. Proba-2's 2026 data feeds directly into this effort. Proba-2, launched in 2009, represents a lean approach to solar science. The satellite is small—fitting inside a compact spacecraft architecture—yet bristles with sophisticated instrumentation. Its longevity (now in its 15th year of operation) reflects solid engineering and ESA's commitment to sustained solar monitoring. The SWAP imager has been the backbone of ultraviolet solar research for over a decade, making the February 2026 eclipse observations a natural extension of an already robust mission. The Broader Context Solar eclipse observations from space have accelerated scientific discovery since NASA's Skylab era in the 1970s. Modern satellites like Proba-2, SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory), and Japan's Hinode have transformed our understanding of solar dynamics. The February 2026 eclipse is part of a constellation of upcoming celestial events: a total solar eclipse crosses Greenland, Iceland, and Spain on August 12, 2026, followed by another total eclipse over North Africa and the Middle East on August 2, 2027. Each event offers opportunities for both space-based and terrestrial science campaigns. What's Next The data Proba-2 collected during the February 2026 annular eclipse will be processed and released to the broader scientific community, likely yielding dozens of peer-reviewed papers on solar corona dynamics and heating mechanisms. Meanwhile, space agencies are preparing deployment of next-generation solar observatories—including ESA's upcoming Solar Orbiter deep-dive missions and NASA's planned solar probe fleet—designed to get even closer to the Sun and capture phenomena invisible to current instruments. The 2026 eclipse serves as both a capstone to a generation of solar science and a proving ground for the observational strategies that will guide the next decade of heliophysics research.

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