NASA admits Starliner failures as it preps for March launch of Artemis 2

NASA aims to launch its next crewed moon mission, Artemis II, as soon as March 6, after a key fueling test showed major progress and only minor issues.

Mission managers said the latest wet dress rehearsal — a full practice run that involves loading the Space Launch System rocket with super-cold liquid fuel — met all the main goals. Teams filled both stages of the rocket on schedule, ran through the countdown, and tested how they would handle pauses and restarts, all without the serious hydrogen leaks that troubled earlier tests.

The space agency will not officially clear the mission for launch until after a detailed flight readiness review late next week, but NASA leaders expressed confidence that an attempt in two weeks' time is possible. The four-person crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — has begun to quarantine at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"It's not an ambiguous time in the future," said Lori Glaze, NASA's moon-to-Mars program manager, at a news conference Friday. "This is really getting real, and it's time to get serious."

The announcement of the potential Artemis II launch date, NASA's first astronaut-led moon mission since 1972, comes a day after the agency admitted to gross failures in the Boeing Starliner test flight that involved astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in 2024. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman delivered scathing remarks about the risk to human safety during a Thursday news conference about the investigation, which relabeled the Starliner mission as a "Type-A mishap." That designation is the most serious level of incident short of a fatal accident.

With Artemis II set to become the first human test flight of the Orion spaceship, there are some glaring parallels, especially given concerns about the spacecraft's heat shield. Though the lunar mission uses a different rocket and spacecraft from Boeing's long-troubled Starliner, leaders stressed that the mishap investigation must reshape how NASA manages all human spaceflight. The same cultural and management failures could surface in any program if left unchecked, said NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya.

"We failed them," he said, referring to Wilmore and Williams, who both retired after their 10-day test flight turned into nine months at the International Space Station. "Even though they won't say that, we have to say that."

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Boeing Starliner mishap investigation

Isaacman outlined how the agency mishandled the 2024 mission, citing serious failures in NASA's own leadership and decision-making. NASA has released its 300-page Starliner report, days ahead of plans to present the findings to Congress. 

NASA and Boeing still don't fully understand why thrusters in both the service module — which carries engines and fuel — and the capsule malfunctioned. The crewed mission had a temporary loss of steering during its approach to the station and another propulsion failure during its empty return, though that wasn't made public at the time. The two astronauts were not on board for that, coming home instead in a SpaceX Crew Dragon months later.

In a statement released Thursday, Boeing said it had made substantial progress on technical repairs since the flight and was working on cultural changes across its team as well. 

"NASA’s report will reinforce our ongoing efforts to strengthen our work, and the work of all Commercial Crew Partners, in support of mission and crew safety, which is and must always be our highest priority," the company said. 

Artemis II flight readiness

During this week's Artemis II test, fuel leak levels stayed far below past readings, including during the most demanding part of the countdown, giving officials renewed assurance. An earlier test in February showed leaks where ground equipment connects to the rocket. Between the two wet dress rehearsals, technicians replaced two key seals and a fuel-system filter. 

A couple of major tasks still remain. Technicians need to install temporary work platforms at the Cape Canaveral, Florida, launchpad so the team can reach and retest the rocket's flight termination system, the explosives that would destroy the rocket if it veered off course after liftoff. NASA also plans more final checks inside Orion.

At the Artemis II briefing, a day after Isaacman said the agency would be more accountable and transparent, several reporters raised concerns about how NASA has shared information about the moon mission. They described fruitless attempts to get details from agency spokespeople. A recent mini fueling test went unannounced, the agency hadn't provided basic photos or diagrams of the repaired seals, and representatives had not yet released a full list of backup launch dates.  

"Transparency is not a weakness; it is a strength," Isaacman said Thursday. "Failure to learn invites failure again and suggests that, in human spaceflight, failure is an option. It is not."