NASA Delays Artemis Moon Missions Until 2026 and 2027

The new schedule still lies ahead of Chinese Communist Party’s goal of a lunar landing by 2030.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch (L), Victor Glover (rear C), Reid Wiseman (C), and Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen (R) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, on March 29, 2023. Josh Valcarcel/NASA via AP

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed that its first manned flight of the Artemis Moon program won’t launch until April 2026, and the following mission—the first landing on the Moon since 1972—won’t happen until mid-2027.

This is the second time NASA has delayed the launch of Artemis II.