NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced on Tuesday that the United States is postponing the planned return of astronauts to the Moon's surface from 2025 to 2026 due to technical challenges and delays. The Artemis program, named after the sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, was introduced in 2017 with the goal of establishing a sustained presence on the Moon and applying the knowledge gained for future missions to Mars.

Artemis 1, the program's inaugural mission, faced multiple delays before its uncrewed test flight to the Moon and back finally took place in 2022. Artemis 2, which involves a crew but no lunar landing, has now been rescheduled from later this year to September 2025. The third mission, Artemis 3, where the first woman and the first person of color are set to step onto lunar soil at the Moon's south pole, is now planned for September 2026.

Nelson emphasized that safety is the top priority, and the decision to delay is intended to provide the Artemis teams with more time to address the existing challenges. NASA's plans also include the construction of a lunar space station named Gateway, where spacecraft will dock during subsequent missions.

SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, has secured the contract for the landing system for Artemis 3, based on a version of its prototype Starship rocket. However, the Starship rocket is not yet ready, with both of its orbital tests ending in explosions. These delays have a cascading effect, affecting the development of spacesuits and simulators needed for astronaut training.

The Artemis 1 mission revealed technical issues, including unexpected erosion of the heat shield on the Orion crew capsule and more damage to the ground structure used to launch the giant SLS rocket than initially anticipated.

As of March 2023, NASA has committed approximately $40 billion to support the Artemis program, according to a watchdog report. A notable difference from the 20th-century Apollo missions is the increased involvement of commercial partnerships in the Artemis era, aligning with NASA's broader strategy to engage private companies in space exploration to reduce costs and enhance accessibility to space.