The Artemis 2 mission, currently scheduled for launch in April, is the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket. NASA’s original plan was to follow that up with a crewed landing on the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis 3 mission.

NASA's towering Space Launch System rocket will be rolled back off the launch pad for repairs, delaying the Artemis 2 launch to April.

NASA on Friday announced an abrupt change to its pathway to getting astronauts back on the lunar surface, opting to add in an additional crewed test flight before attempting to land.

NASA has replaced two bigwigs in its human spaceflight program, just a week after releasing a report criticizing how the agency handled the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner astronaut taxi.

The earliest the rocket will launch is April 1.