On Tuesday, NASA officials provided an updated timeline for the return of humans to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Due to numerous delays related to legal issues, this "new foot" on our satellite will not be able to take place in 2024 as originally planned.
Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, led the briefing. First, the head of the American space agency returned to the rejection of Blue Origin's complaint, which urged NASA to take on a second service provider to supply the next lunar landers (HLS program).
Brought before a US federal court judge, this case resulted in a seven-month contract suspension during which SpaceX and NASA were unable to move forward. This new delay, which is only the latest, pushes back the first human landing today probably "at the earliest in 2025 “, he said.
“I spoke last Friday with Gwynne Shotwell "Nelson said, referring to the chief operating officer at SpaceX. “This is the first contact we have had regarding the HLS program, and we both stressed the importance of returning to the Moon as quickly and safely as possible “.
Recall that when the Trump administration created this Artemis program in the spring of 2019, Vice President Mike Pence set himself the goal of sending Americans back to the surface moon by 2024 . Technically, this goal had always been considered too ambitious, but until now, NASA had never officially acknowledged it. .
There is also a change in the program plan. The first mission, Artemis 1, will still be an unmanned mission around the Moon, as planned (normally in 2022). Artemis 2 will continue no later than May 2024 with a manned mission in orbit around the Moon, as planned, while the Artemis 3 mission was to drop at least two astronauts on the lunar surface.
The change happens here. NASA will indeed require an "in-between" test flight involving an uncrewed landing of the Starship vehicle . The goal will be to prove that the spacecraft can safely land on the Moon and return to orbit. Bill Nelson has not set a time limit for this flight.
In the meantime, SpaceX is also finalizing its Starship launch system. The company will attempt a first orbital test flight next year 2022 as soon as the Federal Aviation Administration gives the green light.
