The next postponement: NASA will not send humans to the moon in 2025 either
NASA was supposed to land humans on the moon as early as 2024, but nothing came of it.
(Image: NASA/Ben Smegelsky)
Humanity's return to the moon has been further delayed, as the manned NASA mission Artemis-2 will now be sent to the moon in April 2026 at the earliest. This has now been announced by the US space agency NASA, which added that the landing of humans on the moon planned for Artemis-3 is now scheduled for mid-2027. The latest postponement comes as no surprise, but until recently NASA had said that both missions were to take place in the fall of 2025 and 2026. The postponement is attributed, among other things, to problems with the heat shield on the Orion capsule that occurred during Artemis-1.
Already years behind schedule
NASA wants to return to the moon with the ambitious Artemis program, but unlike more than half a century ago, this time humanity is to establish a permanent presence there. However, the timetable has been delayed further and further, mainly because the US space agency is having a new rocket developed for this purpose, the SLS (Space Launch System). In his first term as US President, Donald Trump set the goal of achieving a manned moon landing by 2024 – during his then hoped-for second term. Now, however, the renewed and previously interrupted term of office could still be tight, even though it only starts in a few weeks and therefore four years later.
In Artemis-2, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch from the USA are to launch to the moon with their Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen. Within ten days, the four will fly to the Earth's satellite and orbit it in their space capsule. They will collect important data that will be needed for further missions, not just the subsequent landing. The four now assure us that they are grateful to NASA for their approach to the planning. They are still looking forward to the planned flight to the moon and cannot wait for the launch, Wiseman assured.
NASA also announced the new dates against the backdrop of extensive changes that are expected soon. Donald Trump announced this week that he wants to make billionaire and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman the next head of the US space agency. Isaacman has already flown into space twice on a spaceship operated by the private space company SpaceX, paying for both flights out of his own pocket. What his confirmation as NASA chief would mean for the space agency and for the Artemis program, also in view of the rapid further development of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, is unclear.
(mho)
