NASA Officially Postponed Man’s Return To The Moon

NASA has again delayed the Artemis missions that would return humans to the Moon after years of sending only robots there.

The conditions for the Orion spacecraft to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere after its flyby of the Moon during the Artemis 2 mission will be modified to reduce the heating of the heat shield and the likelihood of its destruction.

With the SLS rocket for Artemis 2 already under construction, the decision to leave the spacecraft’s thermal protection intact should not have delayed the launch. However, NASA has made the drastic decision to push back the launch of humans on the first lunar flyby in more than 50 years from September 2025 to April 2026. The Artemis 3 lunar landing schedule will also be pushed back from October 2026 to mid-2027.

The fate of NASA’s entire lunar program could change dramatically in the winter of 2025, after Donald Trump takes office as US President and the agency’s new leadership is appointed.