NASA has passed a major milestone in its mission to return humans to the Moon
By completing the second “wet dress rehearsal” of its upcoming Moon mission, NASA may be on track for a March launch date
Second time’s the charm. NASA successfully completes a major test of its upcoming Moon mission, Artemis II, On Thursday.
The test, known as a wet dress rehearsal, included fueling the mission’s rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), preparing the crew capsule, and starting a mock launch countdown. Its apparent success marked significant progress for the agency: NASA’s first wet dress rehearsal on February 2 exposed several issues with both the SLS and the Orion capsule, including a hydrogen fuel leak – a problem that also plagued the mission’s predecessor, Artemis I.
important for testing Artemis II: Without passing it the SLS cannot launch. And the failure of the first wet dress rehearsal forced NASA to delay its target launch date to March at the earliest.
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NASA still has not revealed exactly when Artemis II Will launch. The mission will see four astronauts — NASA’s Christina Koch, Reed Wiseman, and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — fly on a 10-day journey that will take them on an extended loop around the moon and back to Earth.
Together, they will observe the moon’s elusive far side and conduct critical tests that will help lay the groundwork for Artemis III-NASA’s planned mission, by 2028, is to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in more than half a century.
Editor’s note (2/20/26): This article was edited after posting to correct the name of Jeremy Hansen. This is a developing story and will be updated.
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