The timeline of the Artemis 2 mission plan to return humans to the moon has been revised again. NASA reported that the flyby of astronauts to the moon and the actual landing of a person on the satellite will take place 7 to 9 months later. But this isn’t the worst thing that could happen to the Artemis program. Theoretically, it is often in danger of closure.

The giant SLS (Space Launch System) moon rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft will take off for the first time in November 2022 after years of delays. The Artemis 1 mission took place in unmanned mode. The ship flew around the moon and returned to Earth. The flight was marred by only one important observation: instead of burning evenly in places, the ship’s thermal protection fell off in whole pieces, opening fire access to the ship’s hull. This did not cause the cabin temperature to rise, but it poses a clear danger.

Until recently, NASA was hiding the essence of the problem. What to do with it is now known, as is the agency’s decision. It is reported that gases are formed inside the Avcoat heat shield material during the heating process, the accumulation and excessive pressure of which ruptures the protection parts. Such destruction did not lead to a critical increase in temperature inside the Orion capsule and could not harm the crew. For this reason, the existing heat shield on the new ship will not be replaced. At the same time, after the Orion spacecraft passes by the Moon during the Artemis 2 mission, the entry conditions into the Earth’s atmosphere will be changed to reduce the heating of the heat shield and the possibility of explosion. demolition.

Since assembly of the SLS rocket for the Artemis 2 mission had already begun, the decision not to change the spacecraft’s thermal protection should not have delayed the launch. However, NASA has made a conscious decision to delay sending humans on the first flight to the moon in more than 50 years from September 2025 to April 2026. The human moon landing schedule as part of the Artemis 3 mission will also be moved from October 2026 to mid-2027.

However, even these timelines remain optimistic, as all NASA contractors, from the Mobile Launcher collector to the rocket and lunar lander developers, are critically behind schedule in addition to being completely over budget. The fate of NASA’s entire lunar program may change dramatically in the winter of 2025 after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump (Donald Trump) and the appointment of the new management of the agency. Source