Artemis 3 Landing Mission to the Moon Likely Delayed Until 2027

[Frodo]

Delays for big projects like this isn't unusual, though, so bear that in mind:

GAO report warns Artemis 3 landing may be delayed to 2027

The GAO report, released Nov. 30, found that slow progress on both the Human Landing System (HLS) lunar lander being developed by SpaceX and new lunar spacesuits from Axiom Space would prevent NASA from achieving its currently goal of a late 2025 landing on the Artemis 3 mission.

Much of the report’s emphasis was on HLS development. SpaceX, the GAO concluded, “is facing multiple issues that limit this progress and jeopardize its ability to support an Artemis III mission in 2025.” Those issues include an “ambitious” schedule, delayed progress on its development to date, and significant technical work.

The GAO effectively argued that it was unlikely from the beginning of the HLS program that a Starship lunar lander would be ready by late 2025 given the time typically needed to complete any major project at NASA.

“We found that if the HLS development takes as many months as NASA major projects do, on average, the Artemis III mission would likely occur in early 2027,” the report stated. “The complexity of human spaceflight suggests that it is unrealistic to expect the HLS program to complete development more than a year faster than the average for NASA major projects, the majority of which are not human spaceflight projects.”

[Utah Neolib]

Always thought this was going to be around 2028, so this checks out. I’m confident it will happen, despite SpaceX Starship’s misgivings.

[Samof94]

Always thought this was going to be around 2028, so this checks out. I’m confident it will happen, despite SpaceX Starship’s misgivings.

What if China lands first?

[Utah Neolib]

Always thought this was going to be around 2028, so this checks out. I’m confident it will happen, despite SpaceX Starship’s misgivings.

What if China lands first?

I sincerely doubt this actually happens. First of all, China literally just started the ‘men on the moon by 2030’ thing like a year ago. The Artemis program has been in the works for 15 years, since the failed Ares program. It basically all relies on SpaceX getting their act together, or NASA finding an alternate lander (such as Blue Origin’s Blue Moon).

[Blue3]

While "first" is cool, I never understood why the old space race was seen as a race. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who is first, what matter is how sustainable it is and how beneficial it is and how impactful it is.

Maybe the Chinese are first, but it's the Indians who build a permanent lunar base that specializes in manufacturing more spaceships and all its components out of lunar resources... and with a much lower gravity for takeoff, becomes the leader in the embryonic extra-terrestrial economy.

Or perhaps the Americans land first and even make the first base, but it's more of a prestige base, just for the history books and the tourism, while the Chinese use their lunar bases to begin building space-based solar satellites that give its territory on Earth (and its allies/vassals) nearly unlimited clean energy.