NASA is delaying its first moon landing in more than 50 years by several months to 2027, as engineers at the agency race to fix critical safety issues with the hardware and adjust plans needed for future flights.
Agency officials also told reporters on Thursday (Dec 5) that they were delaying a precursor mission called Artemis II, which will send a crew of four flying by the moon, by seven months to April of 2026. That flight is set to carry the first woman, person of colour, and non-American astronaut to the vicinity of the moon.
The round-trip mission is part of a step-by-step plan to land humans back on the moon at some point this decade. The scheduling delays are the latest in a programme beset by spacecraft cost overruns and technical hurdles.
The announcement comes a day after president-elect Donald Trump nominated SpaceX astronaut and billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to be the next Nasa administrator.
The main drivers of the delay are ongoing issues with the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft’s heat shield, which is necessary for protecting the crew from scorching temperatures when the vehicle plunges through Earth’s atmosphere.
During a dress rehearsal mission in 2022 without people on board, chunks of the heat shield detached from the capsule as it returned to Earth, raising concerns about its ability to keep future crews alive.
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The agency decided after extensive testing to keep the existing heat shield but alter the vehicle’s trajectory as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said on Thursday. For subsequent Artemis missions, the craft will get a new heat shield.
The rocket propelling the craft to space, Boeing’s Space Launch System (SLS), is also years behind schedule.
Nelson, who often uses public appearances to highlight competition in space with China, also told reporters the 2027 target date is still “well ahead of the Chinese government’s announced intention” to land humans on the moon by 2030.
The space industry is abuzz with questions over whether Isaacman, who like Trump has close ties to SpaceX’s Elon Musk and been critical of the projected cost of launching Boeing’s SLS rocket, could attempt to shake up Artemis.
Nelson said he was not concerned that the new administration would axe SLS in favour of SpaceX’s Starship, which is still early in development.
“First of all, there is one human-rated spacecraft that is flying, and it has already flown beyond the moon, farther than any other human-rated spacecraft, and that’s the SLS combined with Orion,” Nelson said.
Nelson said it was legitimate to question whether “you are suddenly going to have Starship take over everything”.
Nelson said he spoke to Isaacman on Wednesday and looks forward to meeting with him. He also plans calls with SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and Blue Origin, the company backed by Amazon.com chair Jeff Bezos.
SpaceX and Blue Origin are building moon landers for the Artemis programme. BLOOMBERG
