NASA Announces That Its SLS Rocket Is Finally Ready For A Launch To The Moon

January and February 2026 were not kind to the Artemis program, which suffered a series of technical problems affecting the SLS (Space Launch System). The mega-launcher is obviously the pride of NASA, but it has given its engineers some good cold sweats over the past two months. Achilles heel already exhibited during Artemis I, the umbilical connection supplying the central stage with liquid hydrogen gave way again during the Wet Dress Rehearsal from February 2. But unfortunately the troubles were not over.

On February 25, just ten days before the March firing window, the SLS once again left the firing point to return to its hangar. Six and a half kilometers covered at walking pace crawler-transporter giant for twelve hours of travel. The cause this time: a poorly positioned joint in an umbilical device on the upper stage disrupted the delivery of helium, a gas essential to the operation of the engines and tanks. NASA has no choice but to postpone the mission, time to identify and correct the problem.

The good news now: the agency has finally granted the authorization that everyone was waiting for. THE roll-out will take place on March 19, and the SLS will finally be able to return to firing point 39B. If the final cryogenic tests do not reveal any new anomalies, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will escape gravity on 1^is avril. A date that history will, we hope, appreciate at its true value or that it will forget like yet another delay on Artemis’ calendar.

The final check before the big departure

Before freeing itself from the Earth’s attraction and piercing the vacuum of space, the SLS will still have to pass the rigorous examination called Flight Readiness Review (FRR). Unlike SpaceX’s rockets which fly very frequently, the SLS is a rare and extremely expensive mount, the FRR is there to ensure that years of work are not wasted on an avoidable technical detail. Closed yesterday, it took place without problem and allowed those responsible for the program to give their agreement for the future.

For two days, engineers, program managers and systems experts tracked down anything that might not work 384,400 kilometers from Earthwhen there will be no one left to intervene.

Lori Glaze, the agency’s acting associate administrator, summed up the general mood once the FRR was completed. “ We had extremely in-depth discussions — very open, very transparent. We reviewed the challenges we faced and how we overcame them, and we also discussed the remaining work “, she explained. A statement that could be translated this way: “ everyone put their feet into it, and that’s exactly why the FRR is essential ».

Once in space, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will have a very busy schedule. Ten days may seem like a long time, but they won’t have time to joke around given the list of tasks that awaits them. They will be the ones to validate (or not) the behavior and maneuverability of the Orion capsule, in which they will be installed. For the first time, it will fly with humans on board, and it will also be necessary to check that its communication systems can keep up the distance with Houston. Last test, over which the crew will have no control: to see if its heat shield will withstand the few thousand degrees without flinching during its atmospheric re-entry.

In theory, everything should be finesince Orion had survived upon its return from space in December 2022, during Artemis I. Except this time, it won’t be empty; the issue is therefore of a completely different nature. Fingers crossed that no headwinds do not disturb the SLS and Artemis again. Let’s meet again, if all goes well, in exactly 19 days. May the worthy heirs of the Apollo program finally end half a century of waiting et recover the torch of space conquest !