The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has intensified its work on its long-term project Artemis, which aims to send human beings to the Moon. Initially, the project was intended to last for 6 years. Desiring to complete these expeditions by 2028, NASA would carry out the first human landing on the Moon in 2024, by pushing its target 4 years earlier with the pressures of the then-president Donald Trump. However, it seems that these targets were not met.
Man’s moon landing delayed to 2025
The possibility of delaying the manned landing on the moon in 2024 gave its first signals last November. At that time, NASA administrator Bill Nelson stated that 2024 was not financially possible and said that this mission could be postponed again. Since they could not get the necessary funding support, he put a significant part of the blame on Congress. In addition, the post at that time was subject to a number of complaints.
He was accused of unfairness in NASA’s process of selecting rival SpaceX to develop the landing system. It was the Blue Origin company of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, that made the accusation. But Blue Origin had lost its legal battle. After all these setbacks, the project of making a manned landing on the moon in 2024, which was already a difficult goal, was officially postponed to 2025. Administrator Bill Nelson made a series of statements on the subject from the NASA official site.
We are pleased that the US Federal Court of Claims has thoroughly evaluated the resource selection process for NASA’s human landing system (HLS) and have already resumed discussions with SpaceX. It’s clear that we’re both eager to get back to working together and create a new timeline for our first lunar demonstration missions. Returning to the Moon as quickly and safely as possible is a priority for a NASA. However, with the recent case and other factors, the first human landing under Artemis will likely happen no earlier than 2025. Looking forward, NASA plans at least 10 Moon landings in the future, and the agency needs significant increases in funding for its future land contest, starting with its 2023 budget.
Artemis 1 is a pioneer for other steps. This first step will be undertaken to test rockets and systems before a crewed flight into lunar orbit with the Artemis 2 program. If the second step is also successful, Artemis 3, which has been postponed to 2025, will make a crewed landing on the Moon surface.
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