NASA Delays First Crewed U.S. Moon Landing in Half a Century to 2026

The second and third missions in the space agency’s Artemis program—which seeks to return Americans to the moon—were each delayed nearly one year.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, January 09, 2024 at 06:21 PM ET

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The crew of NASA’s Artemis II moon mission, which was delayed from late 2024 to September 2025 (clockwise from left): Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, and Reid Wiseman. [Courtesy: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

NASA has delayed its Artemis II and Artemis III moon missions to September 2025 and September 2026, respectively, citing safety concerns and the need for more development and testing time.
The delay for Artemis II is primarily due to issues discovered during the Artemis I flight, including unexpected heat shield erosion, a design flaw in the Orion spacecraft's life support system, and battery deficiencies.
Artemis III requires additional time for the integration and testing of complex new components, such as SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System, next-generation spacesuits, and essential in-space propellant transfer capabilities.

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U.S. efforts to return Americans to the moon for the first time in half a century have suffered a setback.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, NASA officials announced that the Artemis II and Artemis III moon missions—planned for this year and next, respectively—will be pushed to September 2025 and September 2026. Artemis II is expected to put NASA astronauts in lunar orbit, while Artemis III aims to land them on the moon, where they would become the first humans to visit the lunar south pole.