NASA once again delays astronaut moon landing, pushing to 2027

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Source: CNN

NASA once again delays astronaut moon landing, pushing to 2027

By Jackie Wattles and Kristin Fisher, CNN * 3 minute read
Updated 1:44 PM EST, Thu December 5, 2024


NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft on top is pictured at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 26, 2022, ahead of the Artemis I launch. Eric Bordelon/NASA

(CNN) — NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade amid a renewed international push for lunar exploration, is facing more delays. The agency said Thursday that a planned mission to land on the moon in 2026 will now take place no earlier than mid-2027.

Additionally, a pathfinder mission that was slated to fly astronauts around the moon in September 2025 will now take place no earlier than April 2026.

That delay is linked in part to issues with the Orion crew capsule that will be home to the astronauts during both lunar missions. NASA previously disclosed that the spacecraft’s heat shield, which keeps Orion from burning up as the vehicle reenters the Earth’s atmosphere, became charred and eroded in an unexpected way during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022.

The space agency has “done extensive testing to understand the risk that our astronauts will have while accomplishing the goals of landing back on the moon,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Thursday, adding that that testing was able to identify the root cause of the heat shield issues.

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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/05/science/nasa-artemis-moon-mission-landing-delays/index.html