NASA delays crewed lunar landing to 2027

AFP | London

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The United States is delaying its planned return to the Moon from 2026 to “mid2027,” citing 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 twin sister in Greek mythology, was unveiled in 2017 as NASA’s ambitious program to establish a long-term presence on the Moon and apply those lessons to eventual Mars missions. Its first mission, Artemis 1, was an uncrewed test flight to the Moon and back in 2022 after multiple delays. But teams reviewing the data later learned that Orion’s heat shield eroded in unexpected ways, and there were also issues with its electrical and life support systems.

“We were able to recreate the problem here on Earth, and now we know the root cause, and this has allowed us to devise a path forward,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters during a press conference. The problems have pushed back the entire Artemis timeline. Artemis 2, a crewed lunar flyby, has been delayed from September 2025 to April 2026.

Artemis 3, intended to see the first woman and first person of color set foot on the Moon’s ice-rich south pole, is now slated for “mid-2027.” “That will be well ahead of the Chinese government’s announced intention that they have already publicly stated of 2030,” added Nelson. “The safety of our astronauts is always first in our decisions. It is our North Star. We do not fly until we are ready.”