NASA’s Artemis missions will mark the space agency’s first manned return to the lunar surface since 1972 but that return will have to wait. The American space agency’s most recent update provided new dates for both the Artemis II and III missions that were supposed to put boots on lunar regolith.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the news included a delay. There has never been an update that moved a space launch forward because things were going too well. Issues arising from the first mission in the series have pushed the whole timeline back.

Artemissed the launch

The Orion spacecraft, which will act as astronaut transportation to the moon in future missions, saw “an unexpected loss of charred material during re-entry” from its heat shield at the close of the first mission. This has to be addressed, along with other factors, ahead of subsequent trips. The second flight is now planned for 2026, with the third outing scheduled for the middle of 2027.

NASA will continue to prepare the Artemis II mission with the heat shield fixed to the Orion capsule but it’s also using the extra time to tweak Orion’s life support systems. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said, “The Artemis campaign is the most daring, technically challenging, collaborative, international endeavour humanity has ever set out to do.”

“We have made significant progress on the Artemis campaign over the past four years, and I’m proud of the work our teams have done to prepare us for this next step forward in exploration as we look to learn more about Orion’s life support systems to sustain crew operations during Artemis II. We need to get this next test flight right. That’s how the Artemis campaign succeeds.”