NASA Sets New March Launch Date for Artemis II Moon Mission Amid Boeing Starliner Failures

NASA is targeting March 6 for the launch of Artemis II, its first crewed mission to lunar orbit in over 50 years, following a successful fueling test on Thursday. The announcement comes after a previous attempt at a “wet dress rehearsal” earlier this month was paused due to a liquid hydrogen leak in the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

“I felt like last night was a substantial step in us earning our right to fly. So, [it] felt really great. Very proud of the team,” Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said at a press conference Friday afternoon.

The Artemis II mission will send four astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen – on a 10-day flight around the moon, reaching a distance approximately 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. The mission is designed to test critical systems in preparation for Artemis III, currently scheduled for 2028, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

The successful fueling test provides a boost for NASA, which is also grappling with the fallout from a critical report detailing failures with Boeing’s Starliner capsule. The report, released Thursday, classified the first crewed test launch of Starliner in June 2024 as a “Type A mishap” – the agency’s most serious designation – after astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore spent nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) due to technical issues.

According to the report, the astronauts’ extended stay was caused by faulty thrusters and helium leaks discovered upon docking. Williams and Wilmore eventually returned to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, a return described by former President Donald Trump as a “rescue mission.”

NASA Deputy Administrator Amit Kshatriya acknowledged the agency’s responsibility in the Starliner failures, stating at a press conference Thursday, “The agency failed them.” Kshatriya emphasized the require to learn from the experience and ensure the safety of future crews.

The report details a problematic relationship between NASA officials and Boeing executives, characterized by a reluctance to consider dissenting opinions and a growing lack of trust. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, in a statement accompanying the report, admitted the agency was overly focused on establishing a second crew transportation provider to compete with SpaceX, potentially influencing engineering and operational decisions.

Investigators identified shortcomings in Boeing’s construction and testing of Starliner, attributing the failures to “an interplay of combined hardware failures, qualification gaps, leadership missteps, and cultural breakdowns that created risk conditions inconsistent with Nasa’s human spaceflight safety standards.” Isaacman stated that NASA will not approve another crewed Starliner mission until the underlying technical issues are resolved.

Boeing responded with a statement expressing gratitude for the investigation and outlining substantial progress on corrective actions and cultural changes. The company said It’s committed to strengthening its work in collaboration with NASA.