NASA says moon mission is delayed, hopes to land astronauts before China
NASA announced that the next Artemis mission, which will send astronauts around the moon, is delayed until 2026. The program is years behind schedule and billions over budget.
NASA announced Thursday that the next Artemis mission, which will send four astronauts on a flight around the moon, will be delayed until 2026 — yet another postponement in a program that is already years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.
In January, NASA said it would launch the Artemis II mission in September 2025 instead of late 2024. Now, the space agency says it is targeting a launch in April 2026 to allow more time to address issues with its next-generation Orion space capsule. The problems were detected during the uncrewed Artemis test flight in 2022.
The delay also pushes back the Artemis III mission, which aims to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole; instead of launching in September 2026, that mission is planned for mid-2027.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the adjusted timeline should still keep the United States on track to return astronauts to the moon before China puts its own astronauts on the lunar surface.
Nelson said the mid-2027 goal “will be well ahead of the Chinese government’s announced intention” of landing Chinese astronauts on the moon by 2030.
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