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NASA Targets March 6 for Artemis II After Clean Wet Dress Rehearsal

Managers named March 6 as the earliest attempt, contingent on data reviews, pad work, a formal readiness review and crew quarantine steps now underway.

Overview

  • NASA completed a second wet dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center, fully loading the SLS with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant and executing two terminal countdown runs to the final seconds.
  • Hydrogen leak repairs held with concentrations staying well below limits around 1.6%, following replacement of quick‑disconnect seals and a ground‑support filter.
  • Teams managed minor issues during the test, shifting to backup systems after a ground communications loss and briefly pausing for a booster avionics voltage anomaly.
  • Leaders are reviewing rehearsal data and preparing pad maintenance platforms ahead of a multi‑day Flight Readiness Review late next week before setting a formal launch date.
  • The four‑person crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — has begun a two‑week quarantine for a roughly 10‑day free‑return flight around the Moon that would be the first human mission beyond low Earth orbit in over 50 years.