Nov 9, 2021 - Science

NASA delays moon landing to at least 2025

Ivana Saric

A large rocket outside a warehouse — NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Photo: Jude Guidry/NASA/AFP via Getty Images

NASA officials announced Tuesday that they have delayed plans for an astronaut mission to land on the Moon to 2025 at the earliest.

Why it matters: The Trump administration had previously moved up the deadline for a new landing from 2028 to 2024 but experts cast doubt on the idea that NASA could land humans back on the Moon in that timeframe, per Axios' Miriam Kramer.

In August, NASA's Office of Inspector General warned that spacesuits for the Moon mission wouldn't be ready "until April 2025 at the earliest."

What they're saying: "We are estimating no earlier than 2025 for Artemis 3," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said of the mission at a news conference.

The mission would mark the first time that NASA astronauts have landed on the moon's surface since the 1970s.
“The Trump administration’s target of 2024 human landing was not grounded in technical feasibility,” Nelson added.

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NASA delays moon landing to at least 2025

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