With the “Artemis” mission, the North American space agency NASA wants to return to the Moon. Originally, this was supposed to happen this year – but the schedule was postponed. Another US mission had already failed in its attempt to land on the Moon.
The US space agency NASA has postponed the “Artemis II” manned lunar orbit, previously scheduled for November 2024, to September 2025 due to problems with the rocket and spacecraft. The planned “Artemis III” manned landing on the Moon will be postponed until September 2026, NASA announced at a press conference. “Artemis IV”, another planned landing on the Moon, is still scheduled for September 2028.
“We are doing something incredibly difficult,” said NASA chief Bill Nelson. “And safety is our top priority.” That's why they want to give teams more time to work on current challenges.
American astronaut Christina Koch, her colleagues Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen were originally supposed to fly around the Moon in the “Orion” capsule for about ten days in November 2024.
Astrobotic also has problems
Meanwhile, the first US moon landing attempt in more than half a century failed. Due to a fuel leak and problems with solar cells, it is no longer possible to make the “Peregrine” lander land smoothly on the lunar surface, announced the company Astrobotic Technology. How the damage occurred remains unclear.
Astrobotic now wants to try to let the lander fly in space for as long as possible in order to acquire knowledge for the next flight to the Moon – in about a year. It was possible to align the spacecraft with the Sun so that the battery was fully charged and had energy for around 40 hours.
US$108 million attempt
The unmanned Peregrine probe was scheduled to land on the Moon on February 23, the first U.S. space shuttle in 50 years. The company declared the costs at 108 million dollars (about 98.5 million euros). The U.S. last landed on the Moon in 1972. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic's goal was to be the first commercial company to land on the moon.
A Houston-based competitor to Astrobotic has set the same goal. It could be the first private company to land its lander on the lunar surface in February. So far, only space organizations from four countries have managed to land on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the USA, China and India.