The US industrial gas firm delivered more than 50 trailer loads of liquid hydrogen to the 90-foot-tall sphere at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA will combine the hydrogen with liquid oxygen for use as fuel in cryogenic rocket engines for its Artemis missions, which aim to return humans to the Moon.

Hydrogen has been used by NASA since the early 1960s, including on board its Saturn V.

However, the energy carrier has caused issues in the Artemis missions. In September 2022, hydrogen leaks thwarted two launch attempts of NASA’s Artemis I rocket.

Artemis I eventually launched in November 2022, with the unscrewed capsule safely returning to Earth a month later.

© NASA | Artemis I

NASA now plans to launch its first crewed mission on board the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in April 2026 under Artemis II.

The delivery underscores hydrogen’s continued central role in NASA’s space exploration strategy, despite the technical challenges it has presented.