NASA has announced that its planned landing of astronauts on the moon has been pushed back a year to 2027.
This followed concerns that more work was needed on the Orion spacecraft after it experienced heat shield issues during a test flight.
The new timetable means the Artemis II mission to circle the moon will happen in April 2026 and the Artemis III moon landing will be in mid-2027.
NASA said that the updated mission timelines, as well as addressing the heat shield issues, would allow time to address the Orion’s environmental control and life support systems.
“The Artemis campaign is the most daring, technically challenging, collaborative, international endeavour humanity has ever set out to do,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told a media conference.
“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.
“We need to get this next test flight right. That’s how the Artemis campaign succeeds.”
In a statement, NASA said the Artemis missions would allow the Moon to be explored more than ever before.
It would also help with learnings about how humans can live and work away from the Earth and help prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
Humans first walked on the moon in 1969 but there have been no further manned missions since the early 1970s.
For more information about Artemis, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
