Nasa delays astronaut moon landing to 2026 amid spacecraft ‘challenges’
- Issues around the Orion capsule’s heat shield and the spacecraft’s batteries and electrical system are among the reasons for pushing back the Artemis missions
- SpaceX’s Starship also faces a lengthy to-do list before the craft lands astronauts on the lunar surface
Nasa on Tuesday added more delays to its Artemis moon programme, scheduling for 2026 its first astronaut lunar landing in half a century while spacecraft from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and other contractors face development challenges.
The US space agency’s first two Artemis missions involving astronauts were each pushed back nearly a year in delays designed “to give the Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges”, Nasa administrator Bill Nelson told reporters in a news conference.
Artemis 3, the first crewed moon landing under the programme using SpaceX’s Starship, is now scheduled for September 2026, previously planned for late 2025, Nasa said.
The precursor to that moon landing mission, Artemis 2, was also delayed, now planned for September 2025, Nasa said. Artemis 2 involves four astronauts flying the Lockheed-built Orion capsule around the moon and back.
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The new schedule “acknowledges the very real development challenges that have been experienced by our industry partners”, said Amit Kshatriya, head of Nasa’s moon and Mars exploration strategy.