ANKARA

NASA said it is targeting early April for the launch of its Artemis II mission, which will send astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than five decades, media reports said on Thursday.

The mission had originally been scheduled for March, but a helium leak discovered in the rocket led engineers to return it to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for repairs, according to the BBC.

NASA officials said the issue has now been addressed, and the rocket is expected to roll back to the launchpad on March 19.

The earliest possible launch date has been set for April 1.

The Artemis II crew includes three US astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The astronauts will fly aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft during the mission.

Over the course of the 10-day mission, the crew is expected to travel around the far side of the Moon and return to Earth.

NASA officials emphasized that careful risk management remains a priority.

“We want to be sure that we're thinking about everything that can possibly go wrong,” said John Honeycutt, chair of the Artemis II Mission Management Team. was quoted by the BBC as saying.

“If you look at the data over time, over the lifespan of building new rockets, the data would show you that one out of two is successful,” he said.

Officials said NASA will not conduct another “wet dress rehearsal,” a pre-launch test that involves fueling the rocket and running through a countdown sequence.

“There’s not a lot more to be gained from that,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.

“I am comfortable and the agency is comfortable with targeting April 1 as our first opportunity,” she added.

NASA said final preparations will continue before confirming the launch schedule.