NASA Plans Second Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal

The test is scheduled for Thursday as the agency prepares for the crewed mission's launch as early as next month.

Feb. 18, 2026 at 2:31pm

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NASA is planning a second wet dress rehearsal for its Artemis II test flight on Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test will involve loading over 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen onto the Space Launch System rocket and performing a simulated countdown. This comes after issues with hydrogen leaks during the first wet dress rehearsal on February 3. NASA has not set an official launch date for Artemis II but is targeting March 6 as the earliest possible opportunity.

Why it matters

The Artemis II mission will be the first crewed flight of NASA's new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, paving the way for future Artemis missions that aim to return humans to the Moon. Successful completion of the wet dress rehearsal is a critical step in ensuring the systems are ready for launch.

The details

During Thursday's test, launch controllers will perform a countdown to T-minus one minute and 30 seconds, pause for three minutes, count down to 33 seconds and pause again. The countdown clock will then reset to 10 minutes and count down one more time. This is to test the fueling process and ensure all systems are functioning properly ahead of the actual launch. NASA previously conducted a confidence test last Thursday to check seals that were repaired after issues during the first wet dress rehearsal.

  • The test window opens at 8:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, February 20, 2026.
  • NASA performed a confidence test on the rocket's core stage on February 16, 2026.
  • The first wet dress rehearsal took place on February 3, 2026.

The players

NASA

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the government agency responsible for the country's civilian space program, aeronautics, and space research.

Jared Isaacman

The current NASA Administrator, who provided updates on social media about the previous wet dress rehearsal and the upcoming test.

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What they’re saying

“We observed materially lower leak rates compared to prior observations during WDR-1. I would not say something broke that caused the premature end to the test, as much as we observed enough and reached a point where waiting out additional troubleshooting was unnecessary.”

— Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator

What’s next

NASA has not set an official launch date for Artemis II but has marked March 6 as the earliest possible launch opportunity. The successful completion of the second wet dress rehearsal will be a key milestone in preparing for the crewed mission's liftoff.

The takeaway

The Artemis II wet dress rehearsal is a critical step in ensuring the readiness of NASA's new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo era. By thoroughly testing the fueling process and other systems, NASA is working to minimize risks and set the stage for a safe and successful launch in the coming months.