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According to four people familiar with NASA's intentions, NASA is planning to postpone its next several missions to the moon under a crucial program as technical challenges with the multiple spacecraft it expects to employ to go there grow.
the plans are set to be announced on Tuesday by US space agency after months of watching work with contractors and evaluating revisions to the Artemis program, a multibillion-dollar effort that includes returning astronauts to the moon for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972.
NASA's second Artemis mission is Anticipated to be delayed until late-2024 after problems with the Lockheed Martin-built (LMT.N) Orion Crew Capsule's Batteries were Discovered during vibration tests, according to two sources. The Batteries Will need to be replaced.
After the capsule was launched onto NASA's Space Launch System in an Unmanned Test in 2022, this would have been the first voyage with people inside.
Artemis-3 which was supposed to be the first mission to land humans on the moon using NASA contractor SpaceX's starship landing system in late 2025, will also be delayed, according to all four sources. Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX is taking longer than anticipated to reach specific development milestones.
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Lockheed and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Senior NASA official have been considering moving the first Artemis astronaut landing to the fourth mission in order to give SpaceX and other contractors more experience before performing the first such landing in fifty years. Nasa declined to comment.
The Agency's senior leadership was offered with that options by NASA officials last month, but it was unknown if the agency decided to take that course or what the new target dated for the first artemis mission would be.
The Boeing (BA.N) and northrop Grumman-led (NOC.N) Space Launch System will be used to lift humans off Earth, Lockheed's orion capsule will accelerate them towards the moon, and SpaceX'x Starship will carry them in and off the lunar surface.
Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is also developing an astronaut lander for future missions. Complex development milestones with SpaceX's massive Starship system include the company's plan to refuel Starship at an orbital propellant depot before the ship can take humans to the lunar surface and launch them back with enough fuel.
NASA is keen to see SpaceX make progress on the orbital refueling plan, which involves the delicate transfer of thousands of liters of supercooled, volatile propellants in space, according to three of the sources.