NASA has delayed its Artemis 2 moon launch until March at the earliest, after encountering some issues during a key prelaunch exercise known as a wet dress rehearsal.

The Sun released a strong solar flare on Tuesday, Feb. 3, following several eruptions in the preceding days, prompting increased geomagnetic storm activity.

If the fueling test goes well, the Artemis II flight around the moon and back could take off as early as Feb. 8.

NASA is targeting March for the launch of four astronauts on a ten-day mission to circle the moon and return safely to Earth, traveling farther than any humans have ventured in deep space.

As NASA prepares to send astronauts around the moon, a critical dress rehearsal on Monday will reveal whether its rocket is truly ready to fly.

NASA plans to test the planned leak repair with a second dress rehearsal fueling test later this month.

"We studied the last several orbits before the merger, when the entwined magnetic fields undergo rapid and dramatic changes, and modeled potentially observable high-energy signals."

The House Science Committee unanimously approved a NASA authorization bill Feb. 4 after adopting dozens of amendments.

NASA's Artemis II wet dress rehearsal faced setbacks today with two interruptions from a liquid hydrogen leak exceeding limits on the SLS rocket's core stage. LOX loading proceeded normally during the key pre-launch test simulating countdown operations.