NASA has announced a revised timeline for its ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon—the Artemis III missions, initially slated for 2024, now target 2027.
In a press conference on Thursday, NASA officials revealed that the Artemis II mission, which aims to send a crewed spacecraft into lunar orbit, has been rescheduled for April 2026. This delay consequently pushes the Artemis III mission to land NASA astronauts on the Moon to 2027. Previously, NASA had planned to launch Artemis II this November, sending four astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth, with Artemis III following in 2024. Earlier this year, the space agency had already adjusted these timelines, setting Artemis II for September 2024 and Artemis III for September 2026. With this latest announcement, both missions face delays of 7 months to a year.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained that the delays were due to safety concerns with the Orion spacecraft. He mentioned that their extensive testing to identify potential risks for astronauts during the lunar landing mission revealed the root causes of issues with the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. Similar safety concerns regarding the Orion spacecraft were also cited when NASA announced the previous delay in January. The uncrewed Artemis I mission in December 2022, which sent a mannequin aboard the Orion spacecraft to simulate a crewed lunar orbit mission, exposed multiple issues. While Orion successfully returned to Earth after 25 days, unexpected scorching and damage to its thermal protection system during atmospheric reentry raised concerns. NASA maintains that additional time is necessary to address these issues fully.
The Artemis program, launched in 2017, aims to reestablish human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions ended in 1972. Initially, the program targeted a 2028 landing, but the Trump administration accelerated the timeline to 2024 amid growing competition from China.
U.S. media outlets have noted that NASA’s repeated postponements put the United States at a growing disadvantage in the lunar exploration race against emerging competitors like China.
China is accelerating its lunar exploration projects, aiming to send astronauts to the Moon before 2030. The country is developing the crewed spacecraft Mengzhou, a lunar lander called Lanyue, and lunar surface vehicles.
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