NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis moon program amid safety concerns, delays: "We've got to get back to basics"
CBSN
New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the agency's Artemis moon program Friday, acknowledging that the agency's plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 was not realistic without another preparatory mission first to lay the groundwork. Christian Davenport contributed to this report. In:
New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the agency's Artemis moon program Friday, acknowledging that the agency's plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 was not realistic without another preparatory mission first to lay the groundwork.
He said NASA will now add an additional flight in 2027 in which astronauts will dock with new commercial moon landers in low-Earth orbit for detailed tests of navigation, communications, propulsion and life support systems and to verify rendezvous procedures.
That flight, in turn, will be followed by at least one and possibly two lunar landing missions in 2028 that incorporate lessons learned from the preceding flight.
The goal is to accelerate the pace of launches of the huge Space Launch System rocket while carrying out Artemis flights in evolutionary steps — not attempting missions that rely on too many untested technologies and procedures at once.
"We're going to get there in steps, continue to take down risk as we learn more and we roll that information into subsequent designs," Isaacman said told CBS News. "We've got to get back to basics."
