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The U.S. is facing a setback in its plans to send an astronaut to the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. NASA said Thursday that equipment issues are pushing back its Artemis crewed missions to the moon.
“Experts discussed results of NASA’s investigation into its Orion spacecraft heat shield after it experienced an unexpected loss of charred material during re-entry of the Artemis I uncrewed test flight,” NASA said in a statement. “For the Artemis II crewed test flight, engineers will continue to prepare Orion with the heat shield already attached to the capsule. The agency also announced it is now targeting April 2026 for Artemis II and mid-2027 for Artemis III.”
Artemis II will be a mission where astronauts travel around the moon and back to Earth. It was supposed to happen in September 2025. That date was itself a delay: It was originally supposed to be November 2024. Artemis III is going to be a mission where astronauts land on the moon. It was supposed to happen in late 2026.
“We have made significant progress on the Artemis campaign over the past four years, and I’m proud of the work our teams have done to prepare us for this next step forward in exploration as we look to learn more about Orion’s life support systems to sustain crew operations during Artemis II,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “We need to get this next test flight right. That’s how the Artemis campaign succeeds.”
The Orion spacecraft that will be used in the Artemis missions was built by France’s Airbus and Lockheed Martin. That their vessel is having problems is reminiscent of problems that Boeing (BA-1.78%) had with its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft that took a pair of astronauts to the International Space Station and was forced to leave them there after thruster issues.