NASA Adjusts Manned Moon Landing Plan After Previously Being Warned "Too Risky"

As the crewed lunar mission continues to be delayed due to ongoing rocket leaks, NASA announced on Friday that it is adjusting its Artemis lunar program to provide more testing opportunities for commercial space companies’ new equipment.

Overall, NASA’s approach is to emulate the Apollo program from half a century ago, aiming to verify new equipment’s reliability through more frequent launches, ultimately achieving the goal of returning to the Moon before the end of the Trump administration.

Specifically, the crewed lunar flyby mission Artemis II, which is awaiting launch, will proceed as scheduled, with the only uncertainty being when the rocket can be repaired. After experiencing a hydrogen propellant leak earlier, the upper stage of the rocket also developed a helium leak this week, forcing NASA to roll back the rocket from the launch pad.

If repairs go smoothly, the next launch window is expected between April 1 and April 6.

The Artemis III mission, originally planned to land at the lunar south pole, has been significantly revised. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that the mission will now involve launching a lunar lander to low Earth orbit for astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to practice docking, while also testing a new extravehicular activity suit developed by Axiom Space.

Currently, SpaceX and Blue Origin are separately developing the landers mentioned in the plan. This also means that NASA’s lunar schedule will largely depend on the progress of these private aerospace giants.

Earlier this week, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel warned that Artemis III involves too many first-time tasks, making the overall project too risky.

To reduce mission complexity, NASA also canceled the planned upgrade of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. NASA Deputy Administrator Amit Kshatriya stated that there is no need to modify the rocket system until after completing Artemis I, II, and III missions.

According to the new timeline, if the Artemis III mission is completed on schedule in 2027, the first crewed lunar landing will occur during the Artemis IV mission in 2028. Later that year, the Artemis V lunar mission may take place. NASA envisions that as lunar landing procedures become standardized, at least one lunar landing will be conducted each year.

(Source: Caixin)