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.