The first manned landing of the Artemis (or Artemis) mission could be delayed until at least 2026 , according to NASA Inspector General Paul Martin who relayed the news to lawmakers at a House Aeronautics and Space Subcommittee hearing. held on March 1.
“Given the time needed to develop and test NASA’s next-generation human landing system and spacesuits, we estimate that the date for a manned lunar landing will likely be pushed back to 2026 at the earliest,” Martin said.
The ambitious plans of the United States to reach the Moon seem to be delayed once again
Apparently, there are still many gaps to fill, as they still do not know, for example, how to build the appropriate space suits for these future astronauts – which will not be completed before 2025 -. That’s right, initial estimates indicate that the suits won’t be ready for release until April 2025 at the earliest.
But this is not the only thing that has affected the new delay of NASA’s Artemis mission. How to get astronauts to the Moon isn’t well drawn either, so it looks like we’re not going to see NASA’s Artemis mission land humans on the Moon within the next four years as planned.
Artemis will carry out two missions to orbit the Moon, the first uncrewed and the second with a crew .
Artemis 1 has been affected by a series of delays, mostly related to the giant SLS rocket. It won’t launch until the end of May (in principle) and could be pushed back to June, according to the space agency.
“We continue to assess the May window, but we also recognize that there is a lot of work ahead of us,” Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said at a briefing.
Billions of dollars in research and development have been invested in these two projects, as well as more funding for the SpaceX Starship lunar lander and lunar entry space station, all designed to make trips to the moon sustainable.
Reference: NASA
