NASA postpones astronauts’ return to moon until 2025, “soon”

The moon will still be waiting for a while. The return of astronauts from Earth’s natural satellite to Earth as part of the U.S. Artemis program has been delayed from 2024 to 2025. ” soon “, The US space agency NASA announced on Tuesday, November 9th.

The date of 2024 has been set by the Donald Trump administration, But it was widely considered to be almost impossible to conduct. So this delay was relatively expected, but this is the first time NASA has officially recognized this. The US space agency has been waiting specifically for the resolution of a legal dispute over the development of a future lander before announcing a new schedule.

“We lost the case for almost seven months, which pushed back the first human landing until 2025.”, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a news conference.

Most “There are other reasons”, He added. There is no 2024 date set by the previous administration “Technically possible”, He insisted. He also criticized the lack of funding by Congress in recent years for the development of the Moon Lander. This mission to take the first woman to the lunar soil is named Artemis-3.

The astronaut-free test mission is scheduled for February 2022

Mr. Nelson also announced that the Artemis-2 project, which will be the first in a series to carry astronauts aboard but will not land on the moon. “May 2024 Departure Date”. This second mission, previously announced for 2023. “It will go farther than any human. Probably 65,000 kilometers beyond the moon, and then back to Earth.”, Said a NASA executive.

Artemis-1 is the first test flight to the moon, in which the astronaut cannot be aboard, yet is scheduled for February 2022.

All of these missions will use NASA’s new giant rocket, called the SLS (for space launch system), which will propel the Orion capsule to the moon. It is currently fully assembled at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and awaiting departure.

Nelson said the cost of building the existing capsule for astronauts has risen from $ 6.7 billion to $ 9.3 billion (approximately ில்லியன் 8 billion) for the Artemis-2. The astronauts must be transferred to the lunar lander to land on and off the moon.

The last human existence on the moon dates back to 1972

Construction of this lander has been handed over to SpaceX. Named Starship, it is currently in development in Texas. The craft between NASA and SpaceX was later halted Blue Origin, which was in the process of awarding this primary contract, complained against the choice of the space agency., Considers the selection process to be unreasonable. The complaint was dismissed by a federal court last week.

“Even though we were asleep, the SpaceX teams were able to make progress.”, Said Kathy Luthers, co-executive with NASA. Discussions resumed with Elon Musk’s company “To Understand Progress”, She added.

SpaceX must successfully land on the moon without an astronaut, which is part of NASA’s requirements for this deal. The date of this test is unknown.

The Artemis program, also designed to carry the first person of color to the moon, echoes NASA’s Apollo program of the 1960s, but aims to establish a lasting presence on the moon and prepare for missions to Mars.

The first humans to land on the moon as part of the Apollo-11 mission in 1969, and the last humans to land there in 1972 with the Apollo-17.