---
layout: post
title: "NASA's Artemis II is Almost Ready to Launch—If Those Hydrogen Seals Don't Leak Again"
description: "After a successful second fueling test, NASA is targeting March 6 for the Artemis II launch, but engineers still have work ahead."
date: 2026-02-20 14:00:26 +0530
author: adam
image: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1765779038142-054a9f8c2268?q=80&w=1035'
video_embed:
tags: [news, tech]
tags_color: '#3f51b5'
---
After weeks of frustration and leaked hydrogen, NASA finally has a reason to feel optimistic about getting astronauts back to the Moon. The Space Launch System rocket passed its second fueling test on Thursday night, which means the Artemis II mission could actually launch on March 6. That's next month. That's soon.
This might not sound like a huge deal to most people. A successful test run? Big whoop. But if you've been following NASA's effort to get this rocket off the ground, you know that every small victory feels monumental at this point.
## The Hydrogen Problem That Nearly Derailed Everything
Back on February 2, NASA's first attempt to load propellants into the SLS rocket turned into a disaster of leaks and delays. Sensors detected dangerous levels of hydrogen gas escaping from the fueling connection, repeatedly tripping safety alarms. The team tried to manage it by stopping and restarting the hydrogen flow, but it didn't work. Eventually, they had to drain everything and go home empty-handed.
The culprit? Seals made of Teflon that have a history of being finicky. This wasn't some new problem either. NASA dealt with the same leaking seals before launching Artemis I back in 2022. So the agency ordered workers to swap out the seals at the launch pad and prepare for round two.
"For the most part, those fixes all performed pretty well yesterday," said Lori Glaze, NASA's acting associate administrator for exploration programs. This time, the hydrogen sensors barely registered a blip. We're talking 1.6 percent of the safety threshold. That's the kind of difference between "we're getting fired today" and "maybe we'll actually do this."
## Still Plenty of Work Ahead
Here's where the cautious optimism kicks in. NASA isn't popping champagne just yet. There's still a mountain of pending work before anyone straps into that spacecraft. Engineers have to complete a Flight Readiness Review next week where senior agency leaders will formally sign off on the rocket and spacecraft. The range safety destruct system needs retesting. There are avionics questions that came up during Thursday's countdown that need answers.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the Artemis II launch director, called Thursday "a very successful day," but she wasn't going to pretend everything is solved. "When we wrapped all that up, we still had launch window remaining," she said, which basically means they did what they needed to do and then some.
The real test will come when NASA actually fuels the rocket for launch. Teflon seals don't always cooperate twice just because they worked once. There's no guarantee these particular seals won't start leaking again when it counts most. But John Honeycutt, chair of the Artemis II Mission Management Team, sounds pretty confident. "I've got a pretty high level of confidence in the configuration that we're in right now," he said. And there are no plans to replace the seals again before launch.
## The Crew Is Ready
Meanwhile, the four astronauts who will actually fly this thing are already in medical quarantine. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen entered their standard two-week preflight quarantine on Friday at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. They'll head to Florida about a week before launch to strap in for what will be the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
The stakes for this <a href="https://infeeds.com/tags/?tag=technology">Technology</a> achievement go beyond just taking some photos near the Moon. Artemis II is the precursor to actual lunar landings at the south pole, which NASA is targeting for 2028. If this mission works smoothly, it proves that the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are ready for the real job. If something goes wrong, well, that's a whole different conversation about timelines and budgets and whether NASA can actually pull this off.
## What Happens If March Doesn't Work Out
NASA has backup launch windows on March 7, 8, 9, and 11. But if those don't pan out, the mission might have to wait until April. There are only about five days per month when the trajectory and Moon position align with launch requirements, which means NASA doesn't get unlimited chances to make this happen.
The mission itself will last between nine and 10 days. The Orion spacecraft will swing around the far side of the Moon before heading back home for a splashdown in the Pacific. It's a relatively straightforward mission compared to what comes next, but it's not simple by any definition.
"The excitement for Artemis II is really, really starting to build," Glaze said. "We can really start to feel it. It's coming."
After the false starts and leaking hydrogen and engineering delays, you can understand why NASA folks sound both excited and nervous. This thing could actually happen in five weeks, and that's either the best news or just one more delay waiting to happen.
