LUNR Stock Set For Bumpy Open This Week? Another Artemis II Launch Delay To Test Investor Patience

• NASA said that it will roll the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Tuesday, Feb. 24.
• NASA’s Jared Issacman said that this will “assuredly impact” the March launch window.
• On Thursday, NASA fueled its SLS rocket and conducted a wet dress rehearsal of the Artemis II launch countdown.

Intuitive Machines' stock closed nearly 9% higher last week, snapping a four-week losing streak, but another delay in the launch of NASA’s Artemis II could test investor appetite this week.

The company’s stock was down 2.4% in overnight trading on Sunday. In January, NASA selected Intuitive Machines as one of its 34 volunteers to track the Artemis II mission using the company’s Space Data Network and ground station infrastructure to track radio waves transmitted by the in-flight Artemis I Orion spacecraft.

Shares of Intuitive Machines have declined steadily for the past four weeks, but are still up more than 8% so far this year. In 2025, the stock fell by over 10%.

NASA To Rollback Artemis II

Over the weekend, NASA said that it will roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Tuesday, Feb. 24.

The U.S. Space Agency said the engineers are continuing to prepare for the move after encountering an issue with the helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage. 

“After overnight data showed an interruption in helium flow in the SLS interim cryogenic propulsion stage, teams are troubleshooting and preparing for a likely rollback of Artemis II to the VAB at @NASAKennedy. This will almost assuredly impact the March launch window. @NASA will continue to provide updates as they become available,” said NASA Administrator Jared Issacman in a post on X on Saturday.

NASA’s original plan was to launch Artemis II on Feb. 6, but the launch has since then faced issues that kept it on hold.

In another post, Issacman noted that the systems did work correctly during WDR1 and WDR2. “Last evening, the team was unable to get helium flow through the vehicle. This occurred during a routine operation to repressurize the system,” he said.

Run Up To The Rollback

On Thursday, NASA fueled its SLS rocket and conducted a wet dress rehearsal of the Artemis II launch countdown. The space agency’s engineers loaded more than 700,000 gallons of liquid propellant into the rocket and completed two runs of terminal count, marking the final phase of the launch countdown. 

NASA on Friday said that it was targeting no earlier than Friday, March 6, for the launch of Artemis II, before the rollback was announced. The four astronauts set to fly around the Moon during the test flight entered quarantine at approximately 5 p.m. CST on Friday in Houston.

What Is Retail Thinking?

Retail sentiment on Intuitive Machines dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ a month ago, with message volumes at ‘low’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits.

A bullish user on Stocktwits said that Intuitive Machines could likely be the solution to such delays at NASA.

Shares of Intuitive Machines have declined 11% in the last 12 months.

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