[U: Earliest Launch -- Now, Late March.] Hydrogen Leaks Again Encountered By Artemis II Launch Vehicle At The Cape…

UPDATED: As we suspected, after the press briefing -- the crewed launch is. . . delayed. The astronauts will exit Houston quarantine, and re-enter at some point in March. ". . .Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test and met many of the planned objectives. To allow teams to review data and conduct a second wet dress rehearsal, NASA now will target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the flight test. Moving off a February launch window also means the Artemis II astronauts will be released from quarantine, which they entered in Houston on Jan. 21. . . ." End, update.

Not shocking, if you've been following my coverage of these developments over the last couple years, but NASA will jold a debriefing tomorrow, with the press. It now seems unlikely that the crew will be shipped out of quarantine in Houston, to the Cape -- for any launch prior to. . . March.

We shall see -- and we will let you know what we hear tomorrow. See this from PBS:

. . .NASA ran into exasperating fuel leaks during a make-or-break test of its new moon rocket Monday, calling into question how soon astronauts could take off for a trip around the moon.

The leaks -- reminiscent of the rocket's delayed debut three years ago -- sprang just a couple hours into the daylong fueling operation at Kennedy Space Center.

But just a couple hours into the daylong operation, excessive hydrogen was detected near the bottom of the rocket. Hydrogen loading was temporarily halted, with just half of the core stage filled.

The launch team scrambled to work around the problem using techniques developed during the only other Space Launch System rocket launch three years ago. That first test flight was plagued by hydrogen leaks before finally soaring. . . .

Do stay tuned. Updates coming -- mañana. . . .

नमस्ते