NASA postpones its manned flight to lunar orbit to April 2026

Dec. 5 () –

NASA has decided to delay the launch of Artemis II, the first manned mission of the Moon return program, from the end of 2025 to April 2026. whose objective is to orbit the satellite on a ten-day mission.

The experts analyzed the results of the NASA investigation into the heat shield of its Orion spacecraft after it experienced an unexpected loss of char during re-entry of the Artemis I uncrewed test flight two years ago.

For the manned test flight of Artemis II, engineers will continue preparing Orion with the heat shield already attached to the capsule, the NASA administrator explained at a press conference in Washington this December 5.

The agency also announced that it is now targeting mid-2027 for Artemis III, the mission that aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface. The updated mission timelines also reflect the time to address Orion’s life support and environmental control systems.

“The Artemis campaign is the most audacious, technically challenging and collaborative international effort humanity has ever undertaken,” Nelson said. “We need to get this next test flight right. This is how the Artemis campaign is successful,” he emphasized.

The agency’s decision comes after a Thorough investigation into a problem with Artemis I’s heat shield which showed that Artemis II’s heat shield can keep the crew safe during the planned mission with changes to Orion’s trajectory as it enters Earth’s atmosphere and slows down radically before its parachutes deploy to a safe landing in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA will continue stacking the elements of its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which began in November, and will prepare it for integration with Orion for Artemis II.

Throughout the fall months, NASA, along with an independent review team, established the technical cause of an issue observed after the Artemis I uncrewed test flight in which charred material in the heat shield wore away. differently than expected. An exhaustive analysis, including more than 100 tests at unique facilities across the country, determined that the heat shield on Artemis I did not allow a sufficient amount of the gases generated within a material called Avcoat to escape. which caused some of the material to crack and break.

Avcoat is designed to wear away as it heats and is a key material in the thermal protection system that protects Orion and his crew from the nearly 2,800 degrees Celsius temperatures generated when Orion returns from the Moon through the atmosphere. of the Earth. Although there was no crew inside Orion during Artemis I, The data shows that the temperature inside Orion remained comfortable and safe if the crew had been on board.

Engineers are already assembling and integrating the Orion spacecraft for Artemis III based on lessons learned from Artemis I and implementing improvements to the way heat shields are manufactured for manned returns from lunar landing missions to achieve uniformity and permeability. constant. The jump entry is necessary for return to speeds expected for lunar landing missions.