While India has just landed on the Moon and Japan is sailing towards it, the Artemis mission, which was to send humans into orbit around the Moon in 2024, is falling behind schedule: Artemis II will only take place in 2025, which should delay the return of humans to the surface of the Moon by 2026, if not longer.
Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief of the scientific magazine Epsiloonreturns today to the continuation of the Artemis mission to the Moon, the first stage of which we followed last year, a first stage without a crew.
franceinfo: A flight must take place in 2024, with astronauts this time. Everything is going well ?
Mathilde Fontez: Yes, it was a little less than a year ago: NASA’s big rocket, the SLS, took off without a problem. The Orion capsule, which will subsequently transport the astronauts, detached without problem. And it made a trip around the Moon, before returning to Earth, 25 days later. A positive outcome for this first stage therefore.
What to start the rest of: Lhe Artemis II mission, in 2024, with a crew this time, which will circle the Moon. And above all, the Artemis III mission, in 2025, which aims to place astronauts on the surface of our satellite. 56 years after Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. So yes, preparations are underway, but in recent weeks, we have started to fear a delay in the mission.
NASA announced a shift in launch dates?
Not yet, but it is paving the way. First there was a press conference on August 8, where Jim Free, associate administrator of NASA, admitted fears: he did not announce a delay, but he suggested that Artemis III could change objective: perhaps this 2025 mission will not be that of the great return of humans to the Moon.
And this concern emerges this week in a report published by the GAO, the Government Accountability Office: it is the Evaluation Body of the American Congress, which also points out the delays. NASA officials were interviewed, and they acknowledged their concerns.
What are these delays due to?
There’s the failure of Space X’s Starship rocket, which has everyone on edge. The Artemis III mission needs this rocket, it is it which must send, into space, the ship which will land the astronauts on the Moon. It took off for a first test on April 20, but it exploded a few minutes later. Last week, Elon Musk published on X (the former Twitter), videos of the rocket on its launch pad, he announced that he was ready for a second test, but the Federal Aviation Administration did not not yet given the green light.
And Space X hasn’t delivered yet either the moon landing ship, the production of which also seems to be late. A visit to the factory by NASA teams took place this summer, and what emerged were, again, concerns. Not counting the space suit – essential for the mission to the Moon – astronauts will not be able to use current suits. Its design was only entrusted to a private company, Axiom Space, very late. The first concept was only presented last March.
Should we expect a departure in 2026 instead of 2025?
2026 at least. Analysts are beginning to fear a larger delay, of several years. It will also depend on the choices of Congress. In the report published last week, the GAO points to a drift in the costs of the mission. NASA has already spent $11.8 billion. An additional 11.2 billion has been requested for the period 2024-2028, but according to the report, this will be far from enough.