WASHINGTON: NASA officials confirmed on Tuesday that the first crewed Artemis mission around the moon remains on track for an April 2026 launch.
The space agency’s Artemis program represents the flagship United States effort to return humans to the lunar surface.
This multibillion dollar series of missions directly rivals a similar lunar exploration program by China, which is targeting a 2030 astronaut moon landing.
Artemis 2 will be a 10-day flight sending a crew of four astronauts to fly around the moon and return to Earth.
The mission serves as a crucial precursor test flight before NASA attempts its first astronaut moon landing since 1972.
Artemis 3, the subsequent mission planned for 2027, is a far more ambitious and complex endeavour involving a moon lander variant of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
Artemis 2 will utilise NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and its Orion capsule, built by Lockheed Martin.
NASA had previously delayed the mission by several months to its current April 2026 target date.
“We intend to keep that commitment,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, an acting senior official in NASA’s exploration unit, during a Tuesday news conference.
Hawkins added that the readiness of NASA’s SLS and Orion spacecraft could potentially warrant an earlier launch date, perhaps as soon as February.
She emphasised that safety considerations will ultimately guide the final decision on when the mission launches.
The Orion capsule will ride atop the giant, 322-foot-tall SLS rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This launch will mark the first time the spacecraft duo flies with human astronauts on board.
Artemis 2 will fly astronauts Reid Wiseman as mission commander, Victor Glover as pilot, Christina Koch as mission specialist, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen as another mission specialist.
Hansen’s inclusion will mark the first time a Canadian flies in the vicinity of the moon. – Reuters