NASA Artemis II rests on Launch Complex 39B at sunset at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on Feb. 10. NASA is planning for a second wet dress rehearsal for its Artemis II test flight on Thursday in preparation for a full launch as early as next month. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
NASA is planning for a second wet dress rehearsal for its Artemis II test flight on Thursday in preparation for a full launch as early as next month.
Launch controllers are arriving at the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday to begin the countdown to Thursday’s simulated launch time. The crew for Artemis II is not taking part in the wet dress rehearsal.
The test window opens at 8:30 p.m. EST, on Thursday. NASA will stream the wet dress rehearsal and provide updates on the Artemis blog.
Thursday’s test will involve loading more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen onto the Space Launch System rocket. Launch controllers will perform a countdown to T-minus one minute and 30 seconds, pause for three minutes, count down to 33 seconds and pause again. The countdown clock will then reset to 10 minutes and count down one more time.
NASA performed a confidence test last Thursday, loading liquid hydrogen onto the rocket’s core stage. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a social media post that this was to test seals that were repaired after the first wet dress rehearsal on Feb. 3.
The countdown during the first test went through only one cycle before being waived off due to issues with fueling during the first cycle. NASA reported hydrogen leaks on the core stage, pausing the loading process.
“We observed materially lower leak rates compared to prior observations during WDR-1,” Isaacman said. “I would not say something broke that caused the premature end to the test, as much as we observed enough and reached a point where waiting out additional troubleshooting was unnecessary.”
NASA has not set an official launch date for Artemis II but has marked March 6 as the earliest possible launch opportunity.
NASA sends Crew-12 to ISS
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s Crew-12 aboard lifts off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida on February 13, 2026. Photo by Kate Benic/UPI | License Photo
