NASA’s Manned Moon Landing Mission Artemis Delayed

More than 50 years have passed since humans set foot on the moon; however, NASA has been making plans for some time to change this situation. NASA announced in 2019 that within the next five years, within the scope of the Artemis mission, it will send people to our planet’s satellite to explore the south pole of the Moon using a brand new rocket and capsule system; however, it seems that the realization of these plans of the space agency will take longer than expected.

This goal of the Artemis mission, whose main goal was to achieve a manned landing on the moon in 2024, was widely considered unrealistic. In a new statement made by the head of NASA, it was accepted that the realization of the Artemis mission is unlikely to occur before 2025, and it was stated that the new goal of the agency is to land an uncrewed spacecraft on the Moon by 2025.

Not enough funds have been allocated:

NASA delayed the crewed moon landing date to November last year. According to The Guardian, NASA administrator Bill Nelson blamed the delays on Congress, saying they did not allocate sufficient funds to cover the extensive costs required for the mission, such as developing a lunar lander.

Noting that the agency’s priority is to return to the Moon as quickly and safely as possible, Nelson said in a statement, “With the recent case and other factors, the first manned landing under Artemis will likely be no earlier than 2025. ‘ he said.

In addition, Jef Bezos, who described it as unfair that NASA chose Elon Musk’s SpaceX company instead of Blue Origin to develop a landing system, played an important role in this delay. However, this effort of Bezos, who lost the case, was in vain.

NASA plans at least 10 lunar landings in the future

On the other hand, NASA has plans for other missions, such as building the Lunar Gateway space station and building infrastructures such as habitats, rovers and scientific equipment on the moon. However, the realization of these means; This means that a significant amount of budget is needed. “Looking forward, NASA plans at least 10 Moon landings in the future, and the agency needs significant increases in funding for future land competition, starting with the 2023 budget,” Nelson notes.

NASA is currently testing the Artemis I Core Phase and is conducting tests to ensure the rocket is ready for mission.