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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — NASA On Tuesday, it delayed sending astronauts back to the moon until 2025 at the earliest, missing the deadline set by the Trump administration.
The space agency was targeting 2024 for astronauts’ first moon landing in half a century.
When announcing the delay, NASA executive Bill Nelson He said Congress had not provided enough money to develop a landing system for the Artemis lunar program, and more money was needed for the Orion capsule. Additionally, a legal challenge from Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin halted work on the Starship moon landing system under development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for months.
New spacesuit technology must also accelerate so that astronauts can return to the moon, officials said.
NASA still aiming for the first test flight of the moon rocket, Space Launch System, or SLS with an Orion capsule next February. There will be no one on board. Instead, the astronauts will be bound for the second Artemis flyby, flying beyond the moon, but not landing in 2024, a year later than planned. This will reduce the moon landing to at least 2025. Nelson.
“The human landing system is a crucial part of our work to bring the first woman and the first human of color to the Moon’s surface, and we’re getting ready to go.” Nelson told reporters. “NASA He is determined to help restore America’s position in the world.”
Nelson He noted China’s ambitious and aggressive space program and warned that it could surpass the United States in lunar exploration.
NASAThe astronauts’ last moon landing took place during Apollo 17 in 1972. In total, 12 men explored the lunar surface.
At the National Space Council meeting in 2019, Vice President Mike Pence called for “by any means” to land astronauts on the moon within five years. NASA It was shooting to land on the Moon in 2028, and at the time pushing it forward four years was considered too ambitious, if not impossible.
Congress will need to increase funding, starting with the 2023 budget. NASA have private companies competing for astronauts’ planned 10 or more moon landings, Nelson said.
The space agency is also seeking a larger budget for the Orion capsules, from $6.7 billion to $9.3 billion, citing delays and storm damage during the coronavirus pandemic. NASAThe Michoud Assembly Plant in New Orleans is SLS and Orion’s main manufacturing facility. During the first Artemis flight next year, the rocket’s development costs are $11 billion.
Vice President Kamala Harris will hold her first National Space Council meeting as its chair on December 1. Nelson said he updated him About the latest schedule and costs during their visit to Maryland’s Goddard Space Flight Center on Friday.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science has support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. Only AP is responsible for all content.
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