NASA announced Tuesday that it is postponing the Artemis II lunar mission, in which Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen is participating, for almost a year, while it resolves technical problems.
The mission was originally planned for November this year, but it will be postponed until September 2025.
The US space agency provided an update on Tuesday on the schedule for the next mission around the Moon. NASA decided on the postponement due to a number of technical issues and to allow more preparation time.
The subsequent mission, Artemis III, which will land astronauts on the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years, has been delayed until at least September 2026. NASA has already clarified 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 the Artemis teams more time to address the challenges related to early development, operations and integrations, we will give more time on 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 will be the first space trip for Canadian Jeremy Hansen, alongside veteran 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 “backup” in November to replace Mr. Hansen, who was assigned last April, if necessary.
“The members of Artemis II will be the first humans to gaze upon the dark side of the Moon,” said Jim Free, NASA Associate Administrator. I can only imagine all the photos and recordings they will bring back to capture these moments, but also to inform our understanding of the Moon. »
Failure of “Peregrine”
News of the mission 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 .
Launched Monday as part of NASA’s commercial lunar program, the “Peregrine” lander from the company Astrobotic Technology was 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 uncrewed Orion spacecraft that orbited the Moon before returning to Earth.
Officials highlighted a number of problems with the Orion capsule on Tuesday, including a circuitry problem and a battery problem critical to the 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 imagine, and that’s because this is a test and development program. Basically, we’re going as fast as we can,” Mr. Hansen said.
Jim Free assured for his part that NASA was committed “to launching 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 which will orbit the Moon will include a Canadian contribution, the “Canadarm 3” .