NASA's moon walk on hold, Artemis II and III pushed back to 2025 and 2026

As expected from the , NASA has officially that it is revising the schedule for its ambitious Artemis program, which aims to establish a long term presence on the Moon and pave the way for human exploration of Mars. The agency said that it is facing some technical challenges that require more time to resolve and is committed to ensuring the safety of its astronauts.

The first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft, Artemis II, will now take place in September 2025 instead of 2024 as originally planned. The mission will orbit the Moon and return to Earth, testing the critical systems that support life in space. The first lunar landing of the Artemis era, Artemis III, will follow in September 2026 instead of 2025.

The mission will make history by landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, near the South Pole, with potential for water and other resources. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the agency is learning from the uncrewed test flight of Artemis I, which launched in November 2023 and completed a six day journey around the Moon and back.

The mission revealed some issues with the heat shield of the Orion capsule, which are being investigated and resolved. Nelson also stressed the importance of collaborating with commercial and to achieve the goals of the Artemis program. He said that the program represents humanity's collective effort and aspiration to explore the solar system and beyond.

"We are returning to the Moon in a way we never have before, and the safety of our astronauts is NASA's top priority as we prepare for future Artemis missions," Nelson said. "We've learned a lot since Artemis I and the success of these early missions relies on our commercial and international partnerships to further our reach and understanding of humanity's place in our solar system.

Artemis represents what we can accomplish as a nation – and as a global coalition. When we set our sights on what is hard, together, we can achieve what is great." The delay of Artemis III will also give more time for developing and testing new technologies and systems that will enable sustained exploration of the Moon.

NASA's industry partners, and Axiom Space, are working on the human landing system and the next , respectively, which will be used for the first time on Artemis III. Catherine Koerner, associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said that the agency is listening to the feedback from the hardware and making decisions based on crew safety.

She said that each Artemis mission will reduce the risk and increase the capability for future lunar missions. "We are letting the hardware talk to us so that crew safety drives our decision making. We will use the Artemis II flight test, and each flight that follows, to reduce risk for future Moon missions," Koerner said.

"We are resolving challenges associated with first time capabilities and operations, and we are closer than ever to establishing sustained exploration of Earth's nearest neighbor under Artemis." NASA also shared that it has asked both Artemis human landing system providers – SpaceX and Blue Origin – to begin applying knowledge gained in developing their systems as part of their existing contracts toward future variations to deliver large cargo on later missions potentially.

"Artemis is a long term exploration campaign to conduct science on the Moon with astronauts and prepare for future human missions to Mars. That means we must get it right as we develop and fly our foundational systems so that we can safely carry out these missions," said Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development and manager of NASA's Moon to Mars Program Office at headquarters.

"Crew safety is and will remain our number one priority." NASA leaders emphasized the importance of all partners delivering on time so the agency can maximize the flight objectives with available hardware on a given mission. NASA regularly assesses progress and timelines as a part of integrated programmatic planning to ensure the agency and its partners can accomplish its Moon to Mars exploration goals.

With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, exploration ground systems, and Orion spacecraft, along with the human landing system, next generation spacesuits, , and future rovers, are NASA's foundation for deep space exploration..