NASA announces further delays in Artemis moon missions

NASA delays Artemis program, pushing back moon missions amid potential policy changes under Trump administration, focusing on Mars.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced on Thursday new delays in the U.S. space agency’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, pushing back the next two planned missions amid potential policy changes under President-elect Donald Trump‘s administration.

Nelson told a news conference at NASA headquarters that the next Artemis mission, sending astronauts around the moon and back, has slipped to April 2026, with the subsequent astronaut landing mission using SpaceX’s Starship planned for the following year.

“Assuming the SpaceX lander is ready, we plan to launch Artemis III in mid-2027,” Nelson said.

“That will be well ahead of the Chinese government’s announced intention” to land on the lunar surface by 2030, Nelson added, illustrating the competition between the world’s top two space powers as they race to the moon.

The newly announced delays came after NASA concluded an examination of the Orion crew capsule, made by Lockheed Martin and its heat shield, which had cracked and partially eroded during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on its debut 2022 uncrewed test mission, Artemis I.

The Artemis program was established by NASA during Trump’s first administration and represents the flagship American effort to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since the U.S. space agency’s Apollo 17 mission. The Artemis program is estimated to cost $93 billion through 2025.

Unlike the Apollo missions, the Artemis program also calls for building lunar bases that will help pave the way for the more ambitious future goal of sending astronauts to Mars.