NASA has postponed the mission to land humans on the Moon until 2027. What went wrong?

NASA has announced the postponement of the Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 missions, which were set to return humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972.

Now, Artemis 2, during which the Orion spacecraft will orbit the Moon with a crew of four people, is scheduled for April 2026, while Artemis 3, which aims to land astronauts on the Earth’s satellite, is set for mid-2027, reports Space.com.

The extra time, according to NASA officials, is primarily needed to prepare the Orion spacecraft, which had issues with its heat shield during a previous flight.

“The problems arose because heat was ‘building up’ under the outer protective layer, causing gases to form, which led to uneven heat distribution and even cracks. For the manned mission, they won’t change the shield but plan to alter the spacecraft’s entry trajectory into the atmosphere,” NASA is quoted by the channel Alpha Centauri.

The heat shield of the Orion spacecraft. Photo: NASA

To date, Orion has two flights in its “collection”: a short trip to low Earth orbit in 2014 and a 25-day crewless flight to the Moon and back during the Artemis 1 mission in 2022.

The Orion spacecraft and its selfie near the Moon, taken in November 2022. Photo: NASA

For Artemis 2, the trajectory has also been revised, ultimately leading the spacecraft to splash down in the Pacific Ocean closer to San Diego than previously planned, making it easier for the four astronauts to get help if something goes awry during the return to Earth.

The mission timeline depends on many factors, particularly the tests of SpaceX’s mega-rocket Starship, which will serve as the landing module for landing Artemis 3 astronauts on the Moon. Currently, the rocket is still in the development stage, although it has achieved several test flights and the latest ones were very successful.

Despite the mission delays, the US still leads China in lunar exploration plans (Beijing has announced plans to land astronauts there by 2030). Both countries are targeting the Moon’s south pole, which scientists believe is rich in water ice, which should simplify the construction of a settlement or research outpost.