Cape canaveral: The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed on Saturday that it is preparing to move the Artemis II rocket and the Orion spacecraft back to the vehicle assembly facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after detecting anomalies in the helium gas flow. NASA stated that this situation will definitely affect the timing of the March launch.

According to Thai News Agency, this development was triggered by officials detecting a malfunction in the helium flow during the upper booster phase of the rocket launch system last night. Helium is a crucial component for the rocket launch process. Just last Friday, NASA set a target for the launch of four astronauts to orbit the moon and return to Earth on March 6th under Program Artemis 2.

The crew for this mission consists of three American astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. This mission marks the furthest human journey into space ever undertaken and the first human lunar landing since the end of the US Apollo program over half a century ago. Furthermore, Artemis 2 serves as a preparatory mission for the Artemis III lunar landing, tentatively scheduled for 2028.