NASA announced Tuesday that it is postponing the Artemis II lunar mission, which includes Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, for nearly a year while technical problems are resolved.
The mission was originally scheduled for November this year, but will be postponed to September 2025.
The US space agency announced an update on the schedule for the next mission around the moon on Tuesday. Due to a number of technical problems and to allow more preparation time, NASA decided to postpone.
The subsequent “Artemis III” mission, which will land astronauts on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, has been postponed until at least September 2026. NASA has already made it clear that a woman and a “person of color” would be part of this mission to the south pole of the moon.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson described the Artemis program as “incredibly different” from previous NASA expeditions. “We remind everyone that safety is our top priority,” he said during a conference call. And to give Artemis teams more time to address challenges related to early development, operations and integrations, we will dedicate more time to Artemis II and III.”
The Artemis II mission involves a lunar flyby, a looping maneuver around the far side of the moon before returning to Earth.
This is the first space trip for Canadian Jeremy Hansen along with experienced NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch. It will also be the first manned flight of the Orion capsule and the first mission to the Moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Mr. Hansen, 47, of London, Ontario, will also be the first “non-American” to travel beyond low-Earth orbit. Another Canadian astronaut, Jenni Gibbons, 35, of Calgary, was named a “backup” in November to replace, if necessary, Mr. Hansen, who was appointed last April.
“The members of Artemis II will be the first people to glimpse the dark side of the moon,” said Jim Free, NASA associate administrator. I can only imagine how many photos and recordings they will bring back to capture these moments, but also to improve our understanding of the moon.”
Failure of “Peregrine”
News of the mission's postponement came just an hour after a Pittsburgh company abandoned its own attempt to land its spacecraft on the moon due to a fuel leak that ended the mission.
Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander, launched Monday as part of NASA's commercial lunar program, was intended to serve as a scout for future astronauts. A Houston company will take a chance on its own lander next month.
In late November 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, an unmanned Orion spacecraft that orbited the Moon before returning to Earth.
Officials on Tuesday highlighted a number of problems with the Orion capsule, including a circuit problem and a battery problem that is critical to its environmental and life support systems. They also said additional testing and analysis was needed after the Artemis I unexpectedly lost layers of its heat shield.
NASA officials said the crew continues to work hard to learn the systems, monitor and provide feedback on the spacecraft's hardware. In December, Mr. Hansen told The Canadian Press that the crew was training and learning a new job with new systems.
“We probably have more question marks than you can imagine, and that's because it's a test and development program. “Basically we’re going as fast as we can,” Mr. Hansen said.
For his part, Jim Free assured that NASA is committed to “sending our friends and colleagues on missions as safely as possible,” but “when we are ready.”
The Artemis IV mission, which will be the first assembly mission of the “Gateway” lunar station, is still planned for September 2028. The small lunar outpost that will orbit the moon will include a Canadian contribution, the “Canadarm 3”.