NASA'S ARTEMIS 2 ROCKET SYSTEM HEADS BACK TO HANGAR

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Bernama-dpa) -- The rocket and space capsule for NASA's manned lunar mission Artemis 2 are on the way back to the hangar in the wake of technical issues, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

With the help of a kind of transport trolley, the approximately 100-metre-high system – consisting of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule – is being rolled from its launch site at Florida's Cape Canaveral back towards the Vehicle Assembly Building, NASA said.

The transport over the approximately six-kilometre-long route is expected to take around 12 hours.

A problem with the helium supply in one of the rocket stages will be resolved in the hangar.

Several other problems had already cropped up during tests, some of which have already been fixed.

The Artemis 2 mission is intended to take humans close to the moon for the first time in more than half a century.

US astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman, along with their Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen, are scheduled to fly around the moon during the approximately 10-day mission.

The last time US astronauts were on the moon was in 1972.

NASA had originally planned to launch Artemis 2 in early February, then in March.

NASA has not yet announced a new launch date.

After the problems with the helium supply were discovered, the crew was initially released from pre-flight quarantine.

This gave the four astronauts time for a rather unusual appointment: They were invited to listen to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in the United States (US) Congress on Tuesday night as guests of the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.

--BERNAMA-dpa