NASA’s planned Artemis II and Artemis III missions, which are set to take astronauts into orbit around and then onto the south pole of the moon, have been pushed back again.
Because of heat shield problems with the Orion spacecraft meant to transport astronauts, the Artemis II manned lunar orbit mission was pushed back on Thursday to April 2026 and the Artemis III manned mission that will involve a first-ever landing on the lunar south pole in conjunction with SpaceX was moved to mid-2027, NASA said.
It was not the first delay for either mission. In January, Artemis II was moved to September 2025 and Artemis III was pushed back to September 2026 for safety reasons, including fixing a battery and a circuitry component responsible for controlling temperature and ventilation aboard Orion.
Artemis I, an unmanned lunar orbit mission using the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, launched and then returned to Earth in 2022. NASA started its investigation of the heat shield after an unexpected loss of charred material during its descent back to Earth.
Temperatures around the spacecraft, which on the next two Artemis missions would contain people, reach nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it reenters the atmosphere.
Gases built up inside the outer material of the heat shield and could not escape as expected. The gases then built up, causing pressure and ultimately cracks, which led the charred material to fall off, NASA said.
“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,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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