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Milan, 10th January 2024 – The schedules for Artemis II and Artemis III have been postponed to September 2025 for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, and September 2026 for Artemis III, which is planned to land the first astronauts near the lunar South Pole, NASA announced.
The schedule adjustments were made to ensuring crew safety and test critical environmental control and life support systems returned from Artemis I flight test. NASA’s testing to qualify components to keep the crew safe and ensure mission success has uncovered issues that require additional time to resolve, NASA press release revealed.
“We are returning to the Moon in a way we never have before, and the safety of our astronauts is NASA’s top priority as we prepare for future Artemis missions,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. NASA’s investigation into unexpected loss of char layer pieces from the spacecraft’s heat shield during Artemis I is expected to conclude this spring. Furthermore, teams are troubleshooting a battery issue and addressing challenges with a circuitry component responsible for air ventilation and temperature control.
Artemis II launch date was initially placed somewhere between 2019 and 2021, but afterwards the launch date was delayed to 2023. Artemis IV, the first mission to the Gateway lunar space station, remains on track for 2028.
