NASA’s Moon program is on shaky ground
The new report published focuses on the billions of dollars spent by NASA to develop the giant rocket, which made a successful first launch with the Artemis I mission in late 2022. Surprisingly, NASA officials admit in the report that the rocket was too expensive to support lunar exploration efforts as part of the Artemis program. “Senior NASA officials said the SLS program is unsustainable at current cost levels,” the report says.
Additionally, apparently another problem with NASA’s cost estimates is that delays to the Artemis missions were not taken into account. Based on the latest information, it seems likely that the Artemis II mission, planned to be a crewed flight around the Moon, will not be launched before 2025. Similarly, it is stated that Artemis III, a fully crewed Moon landing mission, will extend to at least 2026 or even beyond. On the other hand, NASA says that SLS costs and Artemis missions will not affect each other.