NASA postpones manned moon mission due to unusual incident

Artemis 2, the first manned mission to the Moon since 1972, will not go ahead as planned.

On December 5, NASA unexpectedly announced the postponement of the Artemis 2 mission . This is a flight planned to bring 4 astronauts to the Moon and back to Earth, scheduled to be deployed in September 2025.

According to a new announcement from NASA, the mission will be delayed by nearly a year, and will begin deployment in April 2026.

The unmanned Orion spacecraft takes pictures of the Moon during the Artemis 1 mission, launched in November 2022 (Photo: NASA).

Along with that, Artemis 3, the manned flight to land on the Moon, was also adjusted from the end of 2026 as planned to mid-2027.

NASA said the main reason for the delay in the missions was because the Orion spacecraft (the ship used in the mission) had not yet achieved the necessary preparations.

"The space environment is very harsh," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. " We need more time to make sure that Orion is qualified to take astronauts to the Moon and return them safely to Earth."

To date, Orion has only made one flight, the 25-day Artemis 1 mission, an unmanned test mission that aimed to send the spacecraft into lunar orbit and back to Earth.

Post-flight analysis showed that the Orion spacecraft's heat shield was unusually eroded during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, contrary to engineers' predictions.

This phenomenon may have occurred due to the Orion spacecraft's deceleration strategy when returning to Earth. Specifically, the spacecraft was guided to leave the atmosphere multiple times before landing.

NASA said the strategy is necessary to dissipate the enormous energy generated by the Orion spacecraft as it returns from the Moon at high speed.

However, several design flaws made this goal impossible to achieve. Heat buildup on the outer layer of the heat shield and pressure caused it to fail unexpectedly.

Although several studies have shown that the Orion spacecraft's heat shield is still capable of protecting astronauts during the 10-day Artemis 2 flight.

But clearly, NASA doesn't want to gamble on a mission that could be a game-changer for humanity. Therefore, they will thoroughly eliminate any anomalies that could potentially cause an accident.