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.

After February's setback, Nasa rehearsed the launch of its massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Thursday and reported that things proceeded as planned.

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




Edited by Robert Kemp