2026年3月19日 / 美国东部时间下午3:13 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）已准备好修复后的阿尔忒弥斯二号月球火箭，于周四夜间返回发射台，为推迟至4月1日的发射做准备。此次发射将把四名宇航员送往月球进行为期九天的历史性绕月飞行并返回地球。
这枚高332英尺的阿尔忒弥斯二号太空发射系统（SLS）火箭及其移动发射平台，将由一台强大的阿波罗时代履带式运输车运送，预计于美国东部时间晚上8点左右开始从NASA的车辆装配大楼缓缓驶出，开启长达4英里、耗时12小时的前往39B号发射台的旅程。
抵达发射台后，NASA和承包商的工程师及技术人员将连接燃料管线、电力和数据电缆，并为发射做好准备。
（图：2026年1月，阿尔忒弥斯二号太空发射系统火箭在NASA履带式运输车的运送下，首次驶往肯尼迪航天中心39B号发射台。由于氢气泄漏问题及在车辆装配大楼内进行推进剂增压问题修复工作，火箭再次被拖回发射台，计划于4月1日尝试发射。）
图片来源：NASA/基根·巴伯
NASA管理人员表示，此前的问题和修复工作（包括后续的燃料加注测试）已得到解决。下次SLS火箭装载超过75万加仑液态氢和液态氧推进剂时，将用于实际发射。
阿尔忒弥斯二号任务指挥官里德·怀斯曼（Reid Wiseman）、维克多·格洛弗（Victor Glover）、克里斯蒂娜·科赫（Christina Koch）和加拿大宇航员杰里米·汉森（Jeremy Hansen）已于周三夜间进入飞行前医学隔离状态。他们计划在一周后的周五飞往肯尼迪航天中心，如果一切顺利，他们希望能在4月1日下午6:24发射窗口开启时，登上火箭进行发射。
此次飞行将是2022年一次无人测试飞行之后，宇航员首次乘坐SLS火箭和猎户座载人舱。在那次飞行中，猎户座载人舱未配备生命支持系统。阿尔忒弥斯二号的宇航员将在太空的第一天检查航天器的推进系统、导航、通信和生命支持系统，然后前往月球。
这将是自1972年最后一批阿波罗宇航员登月以来，首次载人登月任务。怀斯曼和他的机组人员将绕月飞行并返回太平洋溅落区，不会进入月球轨道，但准时发射将使他们比历史上任何人类都能飞行得更远。
如果此次飞行成功，NASA计划明年再发射一枚SLS火箭和猎户座载人舱，测试与SpaceX和蓝色起源公司建造的一个或两个月球着陆器的交会对接程序。随后，在2028年将至少进行一次、可能两次月球着陆任务。
但首先，阿尔忒弥斯二号机组人员必须通过成功的绕月往返飞行，证明火箭和猎户座航天器能够完成任务。
此次飞行原计划于2月初进行，但在彩排倒计时期间检测到氢气燃料泄漏问题后被推迟。该问题在发射台得到修复，火箭顺利完成了第二次燃料加注测试，未出现重大问题，为3月6日左右发射奠定了基础。
然而，在燃料加注测试后，工程师遇到了新问题：无法将高压氦气泵回SLS火箭的上面级。加压氦气通常用于推动推进剂进入发动机，并在需要时帮助清洁和干燥油箱及推进剂管线。
与第一级泄漏不同，工程师无法在发射台接触到第二级。因此，整个SLS火箭必须被拖回车辆装配大楼，在那里，可伸缩平台提供了必要的检修通道。
氦气问题被追溯到快速断开接头中的错位密封件，并迅速修复。工程师还更换了火箭自毁系统中的电池，为各种其他电池充电，并更换了第一级液态氧推进剂脐带机构中的密封件。
由于地球和月球位置的不断变化，以及光照和太阳能限制，NASA必须在4月6日前完成阿尔忒弥斯二号任务的发射。之后，飞行将再推迟约三周，直到条件再次适合发射。
Repaired Artemis II moon rocket heads back to pad for April 1 launch try
March 19, 2026 / 3:13 PM EDT / CBS News
NASA readied its repaired Artemis II moon rocket for a return trip to the launch pad overnight Thursday, setting the stage for a delayed April 1 launch to send four astronauts on a historic nine-day flight around the moon and back.
Mounted atop a powerful Apollo-era crawler-transporter, the 332-foot-tall Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and its mobile launch platform were expected to start inching out of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building around 8 p.m. EDT to begin the 4-mile, 12-hour trip to launch pad 39B.
Once on the firing stand, NASA and contractor engineers and technicians will connect fuel lines, power and data cables and rig the pad for launch.
The Artemis II Space Launch System rocket is seen here atop NASA’s crawler-transporter during its initial roll out to the Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39B in January. After delays due to hydrogen leaks and work back in the Vehicle Assembly Building to fix a propellant pressurization problem, the rocket is being hauled back out to the pad for an April 1 launch try. NASA/Keegan Barber
NASA managers say earlier problems and repairs that required a follow-on fueling test have been resolved and that the next time the SLS rocket is loaded with more than 750,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants, it will be for an actual launch.
Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen went into pre-flight medical quarantine Wednesday night. They plan to fly to the Kennedy Space Center a week from Friday, and if all goes well, they hope to strap in for blastoff at 6:24 p.m. April 1, the opening of a two-hour launch window.
The flight will mark the first time astronauts have flown atop an SLS rocket and aboard an Orion crew capsule after a single unpiloted test flight in 2022.
In that flight, the Orion crew capsule was not equipped with a life support system. The Artemis II astronauts will devote their first full day in space to checking out the spacecraft’s propulsion, navigation, communications and life support systems before heading off to the moon.
The Artemis II flight will be the first piloted moon mission since the last Apollo crew landed on the moon in 1972. While Wiseman and his crewmates will swing around the moon and return to a Pacific Ocean splashdown without going into lunar orbit, an on-time launch will allow them to travel farther from Earth than any humans before them.
If the flight goes well, NASA plans to launch another SLS rocket and Orion crew next year to test rendezvous and docking procedures with one or both moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. That flight will be followed by at least one and possibly two moon-landing missions in 2028.
But first, the Artemis II crew must show the rocket and Orion spacecraft are up to the task with a successful trip to the moon and back.
The flight originally was planned for early February, but it was delayed after hydrogen fuel leaks were detected during a dress rehearsal countdown. That problem was fixed at the pad and the rocket sailed through a second fueling test without any major problems. That set the stage for a launch around March 6.
But after the fueling test, engineers ran into a fresh problem when they were unable to pump high-pressure helium back into the SLS rocket’s upper stage. Pressurized helium is routinely used in rockets to push propellants to engines and to help clean and dry tanks and propellant lines when needed.
Unlike the first stage leak, engineers could not access the second stage at the launch pad. So the entire SLS rocket had to be hauled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where extendable platforms provided the needed access.
The helium issue was traced to out-of-place seals in a quick-disconnect fitting and was quickly repaired. Engineers also replaced batteries in the rocket’s self-destruct system, recharged a variety of other batteries and replaced seals in the first stage liquid oxygen propellant umbilical mechanism.
Because of the constantly changing positions of Earth and moon, along with lighting and solar power constraints, NASA only has until April 6 to get the Artemis II mission off the ground. After that, the flight will slip another three weeks or so when conditions will once again be favorable for launch.
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