The United States is pushing back its planned return to the Moon from 2026 to “mid-2027” as it deals with heat shield issues and other problems plaguing its Orion crew capsule, NASA officials said Thursday .
The announcement comes as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in January and could significantly reshape the direction of the US space agency.
Artemis, named after Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology, was officially launched in 2017 to establish NASA’s continued presence on Earth’s nearest space neighbor and to harness the lessons learned there for future missions to Mars. Was announced as part of the plan to be implemented.
Its first mission, an unmanned test flight to the Moon and called Artemis 1, is scheduled for 2022 after several postponements.
But teams reviewing the data later discovered that Orion’s heat shield was destroyed in an unexpected way, and there were also problems with its electrical and life support systems.
“We were able to recreate the problem on Earth, and now we know the root cause, and that has allowed us to chart a path forward,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters during a press conference. “
Artemis 2, which includes a crew that will not land on the lunar surface, has been postponed from September 2025 to April 2026, Nelson told reporters.
Artemis 3, which will carry the first woman and first person of color to walk on lunar soil at the moon’s south pole, is now due in “mid-2027.”
“This would be well ahead of the Chinese government’s stated intentions, which they have already stated publicly about 2030,” Nelson said.
“The safety of our astronauts always comes first in our decisions. This is our North Star. We don’t fly until we’re ready.”
In addition to the troubles plaguing Orion, NASA is waiting for a modified version of its Starship prototype rocket to act as a lunar lander for Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Although the company is making rapid progress, it still has a long way to go in its testing, particularly in proving that it can carry out a complex refueling procedure in orbit.
The spacesuit developed by Axiom is also still awaited.
Trump on Wednesday nominated online payments billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
Experts predict significant changes could soon occur – ranging from potentially canceling the expensive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket used for Artemis, to possibly eliminating the moon component altogether and moving to Mars. Until focused.
The announcement comes as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in January and could significantly reshape the direction of the US space agency.
Artemis, named after Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology, was officially launched in 2017 to establish NASA’s continued presence on Earth’s nearest space neighbor and to harness the lessons learned there for future missions to Mars. Was announced as part of the plan to be implemented.
Its first mission, an unmanned test flight to the Moon and called Artemis 1, is scheduled for 2022 after several postponements.
But teams reviewing the data later discovered that Orion’s heat shield was destroyed in an unexpected way, and there were also problems with its electrical and life support systems.
“We were able to recreate the problem on Earth, and now we know the root cause, and that has allowed us to chart a path forward,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters during a press conference. “
Artemis 2, which includes a crew that will not land on the lunar surface, has been postponed from September 2025 to April 2026, Nelson told reporters.
Artemis 3, which will carry the first woman and first person of color to walk on lunar soil at the moon’s south pole, is now due in “mid-2027.”
“This would be well ahead of the Chinese government’s stated intentions, which they have already stated publicly about 2030,” Nelson said.
“The safety of our astronauts always comes first in our decisions. This is our North Star. We don’t fly until we’re ready.”
In addition to the troubles plaguing Orion, NASA is waiting for a modified version of its Starship prototype rocket to act as a lunar lander for Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Although the company is making rapid progress, it still has a long way to go in its testing, particularly in proving that it can carry out a complex refueling procedure in orbit.
The spacesuit developed by Axiom is also still awaited.
Trump on Wednesday nominated online payments billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
Experts predict significant changes could soon occur – ranging from potentially canceling the expensive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket used for Artemis, to possibly eliminating the moon component altogether and moving to Mars. Until focused.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
