NASA delayed the mission that would have taken astronauts to the Moon by 50 years before traveling to Mars

THE United States Space Agency (NASA) It will delay the crewed Artemis II mission, which is scheduled to fly by the Moon, to 2025, and the Artemis III mission, which will send astronauts to the satellite’s surface for the first time in more than 50 years, to 2026.

In a press conference Tuesday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the crew’s safety is his “highest priority” and that the Artemis missions need “more time” to prepare.

“I want to announce that we are changing our schedule to ship Artemis II in September 2025 and for September 2026 at Artemis III”Nelson explained. “We will not fly until we are ready. Safety is fundamental”, underlined the head of the space agency.

Artemis II, the mission initially scheduled for November this year, will send four astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit.

In April last year it was announced that this ten-day mission will have Reid Wiseman as commander and Víctor Glover as pilot, while astronauts Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen will serve as mission specialists.

Artemis II will serve as a prelude to Artemis III, the mission he intends to send astronauts at the south pole of the Moon for the first time and which has been postponed from 2025 to 2026.

Nelson explained at a press conference that the schedule change will not alter plans for the Artemis IV mission, a second moon landing still scheduled for September 2028.

The Artemis lunar exploration program was designed as a first step for man’s arrival on Mars and began in 2022 with the flyby of the Moon by an uncrewed mission.

During that flyby, the Orion spacecraft’s cover suffered unexpected wear that NASA technicians are trying to fix, Amit Kshatriya, deputy program administrator, explained in the press conference. “From the Moon to Mars”.

The agency is also trying to overcome issues with the ship’s batteries, hardware, air ventilation and temperature control.

Jim Free, the space agency’s associate administrator, said the agency is particularly focused on “ensuring the safe return” of the crew that will be sent to the Moon.

The announcement of program delays comes a day after the Peregrine module, operated by a private company in partnership with NASA, ran out of fuel to reach the Moon.

Despite everything, the head of NASA stated that we have entered a situation “The Golden Age” of space exploration, which opens the door to the arrival of humans on Mars and the revelation of the “secrets” of the formation of the solar system and the Earth.