The United States space agency, NASA, stated that it would postpone the international mission to land astronauts on the Moon from its original plan for the end of 2025 to September 2026.
NASA’s Artemis plan, led by the United States, aims to be the first manned landing mission on the Moon in about half a century since the Apollo program. Japan took part in this project.
NASA announced the postponement of the program on Tuesday (09/01/2024). The space agency said flight tests before the landing mission, which involves sending astronauts around the Moon and back, would also be delayed by about 10 months until September 2025.
NASA said it needed more time to complete a large spacecraft for the Moon landing, as well as to address development issues related to safety.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized that safety is the top priority. He said NASA decided to give the Artemis team more time to overcome the first challenges in development, operations and integration.
Lunar exploration is scheduled to resume under the Artemis program after 2026. Final arrangements are being made for at least two Japanese astronauts to land on the Moon.
2024-01-10 06:45:31
#NASA #Postpones #Artemis #Mission #Moon #Landing #NHK #WORLDJAPAN #News
