NASA share the preparation ahead of Artemis I's moon launch
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NASA administrator Bill Nelson has confirmed today the US space agency is no longer on track to land humans on the Moon in the next three years. Under a directive issued by the previous White House administration, NASA was instructed to send humans to the lunar south pole by no later than 2024. However, NASA’s programme has been bogged down by delays and litigation, causing a significant delay to the effort.
Michael Sheetz, space reporter with CNBC, tweeted: “NASA administrator Bill Nelson says the Artemis II mission, the first to carry astronauts, is targeting May 2024.
“Artemis III, the program’s first crewed lunar landing, is delaying to no earlier than 2025.”
He added: “Nelson says the quiet part out loud: ‘The Trump administration’s target of 2024 human landing was not grounded in technical feasibility.'”
According to the NASA administrator, the Artemis programme has suffered a major setback as a result of months of litigation.
He told a press conference on Tuesday: “We lost nearly seven months in litigation and that likely has pushed the first human landing to no earlier than 2025.”
The US space agency has been taken to court by Jeff Bezos’s aerospace company Blue Origin over a £2.14billion ($2.9billion) lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Mr Nelson said NASA had not been allowed under law to contact SpaceX, leaving NASA in the dark about the development of the company’s Starship lunar lander.
The US Court of Federal Claims ruled against Blue Origin last week, putting an end to a months-long legal battle.
Earlier this summer, Blue Origin’s lawyers accused NASA of conducting “unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals”.
After the decision was announced, NASA said in a statement: “NASA will resume work with SpaceX under the Option A contract as soon as possible.
Artemis programme: Thales outline mission to land on the moon
“In addition to this contract, NASA continues working with multiple American companies to bolster competition and commercial readiness for crewed transportation to the lunar surface.
“There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program, including a call in 2022 to US industry for recurring crewed lunar landing services.”
Earlier this summer, Blue Origin’s lawyers accused NASA of conducting “unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals” after SpaceX was selected to service the Artemis missions, despite not having yet developed a capable lunar lander.
SpaceX is presently in the development stage of the Starship spacecraft, a variant of which will be designed specifically to land on the Moon.
Humans have not walked on the surface of the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
NASA’s Artemis programme was conceived as the twin sister to the Apollo programme.
The goal of Artemis is to send the next man and first woman to the Moon before the end of the decade, to prepare the lunar orb as a stepping stone to Mars.
The original timeline set out by President Trump instructed NASA to land humans by 2024 and establish a “sustained presence” on the Moon by 2028.
The first Artemis mission, the uncrewed Artemis 1 launch, is expected to launch no earlier than February 2022.
Artemis 2, which will be crewed but will only circle the Moon without attempting a landing, is expected to launch by May 2024.
Artemis 3, which will see NASA attempt to land on the Moon’s surface, is now expected no earlier than 2025.
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