NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, initially scheduled for the end of 2024, is now scheduled for September 2025. This was announced by NASA Chief Administrator Bill Nelson in the press conference on the update of programs for the return to the Moon. “To be able to safely carry out our next Artemis missions to the Moon with astronauts – said Nelson – we are now aiming for September 2025 for Artemis 2 and September 2026 for Artemis 3”.
Artemis 2 was identified by NASA as the first mission with astronauts, destined to orbit the Moon, while Artemis 3 is the mission in which the first woman and the next man will return to lunar soil more than half a century after the end of the Apollo program, descending into the area of the south pole of the Moon. The Artemis 4 mission is currently confirmed for 2028, the first with astronauts on board the Gateway space station operating in lunar orbit.
The announcement of the postponements came the day after the launch and subsequent problems of the Peregrine lander, built by the private company Astrobotic and to which NASA has entrusted six experiments to collect data useful for the Artemis program.
“We have learned a lot since Artemis I, and the success of these early missions relies on our commercial and international partnerships to broaden our reach and understanding of humanity’s place in our Solar System,” Nelson said. it represents what we can accomplish as a nation and as a coalition.”
The NASA chief administrator then spoke about the changes to the Artemis 2 mission in the name of safety, in particular the environmental control and life support systems of the Orion capsule intended to host the astronauts. In recent tests, “problems that require further time to resolve” have emerged, NASA notes. In particular, we are trying to solve a problem relating to the battery and components of the ventilation and temperature control system.
NASA also plans to complete the solution to the problems found in the shuttle’s heat shield during the Artemis 1 mission in the spring
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