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US Delays Mission to Land Humans on the Moon Until 2026
- NASA’s Artemis program now targets Sept. 2026 landing
- Technical challenges surround capsule, lander, space suits
The Artemis II and Artemis III mission hardware at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2022.
Photographer: Alex Perez/SipaThis article is for subscribers only.
NASA is delaying by about a year its long-awaited mission to land American astronauts on the moon, as the agency and its commercial partners grapple with mounting technical challenges associated with its Artemis program.
Pushing off the mission to September 2026 shows how the agency is struggling to meet ambitious deadlines and navigate the complications that come from relying on private firms like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to defense juggernaut Lockheed Martin Corp.