Why the rocket fuel that will power Artemis II is so hard to handle

Muzammil Hussain February 07, 2026

A rocket is in a massive industrial building, with several people wearing hard hats looking up at it in the foreground.

It's difficult to imagine a substance that is hundreds of degrees below freezing yet still a liquid. Such is the strange nature of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that are the components of rocket fuel.

It's difficult to imagine a substance that is hundreds of degrees below freezing yet still a liquid. Such is the strange nature of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that are the components of rocket fuel. A rocket is in a massive industrial building, with several people wearing hard hats looking up at it in the foreground.

It's difficult to imagine a substance that is hundreds of degrees below freezing yet still a liquid. Such is the strange nature of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that are the components of rocket fuel.