Space: The United States is still delaying the return of astronauts to the Moon

NASA announced on Thursday that it was once again postponing the long-awaited return of its astronauts to the Moon until “mid-2027” due in particular to technical problems encountered on the vessel carrying the crew.

“The safety of our astronauts always comes first in our decision-making. It is our North Star. We will not fly until we are ready,” explained the head of the American space agency, Bill Nelson, during a press conference.

The announcement of this umpteenth postponement comes at a time when Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January could drastically reconfigure the American space agency’s projects.

Setting the stage for future missions to Mars

The Artemis 3 mission, which is to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972, is now scheduled for “mid-2027”.

“It will be much sooner than the prospect announced by the Chinese government,” assured NASA boss Bill Nelson, in reference to Beijing’s plan to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2030.

Announced in 2017, the flagship Artemis program aims to establish a lasting presence on the Moon and prepare the ground for future missions to Mars.

After several postponements, it was inaugurated in 2022 with the Artemis 1 mission, which successfully flew the Orion spacecraft around the Moon, in order to test it without a crew.

“We were able to recreate the problem on Earth”

But due to problems encountered on the capsule, in particular its heat shield which deteriorated unexpectedly, missions 2 and 3 had to be postponed. “We were able to recreate the problem on Earth and we now know the root cause,” assured Bill Nelson.

The Artemis 2 mission, during which astronauts must travel around the Moon without landing there, is now scheduled for April 2026. It was previously planned for September 2025.

In addition to the problems encountered on Orion, NASA is waiting for SpaceX, the space company of multi-billionaire Elon Musk, to have a completed version of its mega Starship rocket capable of serving as a lunar lander.

Furthermore, the special suits developed by Axiom are also still awaited. Wednesday’s appointment of billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman as future head of NASA could shake up the program. Experts expect significant changes in American space projects, such as a possible abandonment of the expensive NASA rocket planned for Artemis, or a reorientation of programs on Mars.

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