NASA announces earliest date for Artemis 2 lunar launch

NASA on Friday set March 6 as the earliest possible launch date for Artemis 2, the first crewed flyby mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.

Lori Glaze, a senior official with the US space agency, cautioned that pad work, a flight readiness review and a dress rehearsal analysis needed to be completed in order to meet that date.

"We need to successfully navigate all of those but assuming that happens, it puts us in a very good position to target March 6," Glaze said.

NASA rehearsed the launch of its massive SLS rocket on Thursday.

Technical problems in early February cut short an earlier so-called wet dress rehearsal of the launch of the Artemis 2 mission.

But on Thursday, the US space agency reported that things proceeded as planned, concluding at "T-29 seconds" in the countdown.

The wet dress rehearsal is conducted under real conditions -- with full rocket tanks and technical checks -- at Cape Canaveral in Florida, with engineers practicing the maneuvers needed to carry out an actual launch.

The setback in February, which included a liquid hydrogen leak, dashed hopes of a lift-off this month.

Three American astronauts and one Canadian make up the Artemis 2 crew.