The United States plans to return its astronauts to the moon as part of the Artemis program in 2025. This was announced on Tuesday, November 9, by the head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Bill Nelson.
"The changes will lead to the fact that the Artemis-2 mission (in which people will land on the surface of the moon. - Ed.), which is ... a manned mission, will potentially date back to May 2024, " he said at a briefing for journalists.
According to Nelson, some changes in the launch will delay the landing of a man on the moon until at least 2025.
On August 10, the NASA office announced that the landing of American astronauts on the Moon in 2024 is impossible, since the spacesuits are not ready for them.
According to the report, the spacesuits will not be ready for flight until at least April 2025.
On April 16, NASA announced that the contract to send astronauts to the moon in 2024 was awarded to the company SpaceX. It is noted that the contract amount is $2.89 billion. According to him, the company should develop the first commercial lander, which will safely deliver two American astronauts to the surface of the Moon.
It is assumed that as part of the Artemis mission, NASA will be the first to deliver a woman and a colored person to the lunar surface. In addition, as part of the program, extensive operations will be carried out on and around the Moon, and NASA will also prepare for human flights to Mars, according to a message on the agency's website.
"We will build the Artemis camp on the surface and the Gate in lunar orbit. These elements will allow our robots and astronauts to explore more and conduct more scientific research than ever before," the report says.
NASA's Artemis lunar program provides for three flights to the moon. The first stage is planned in 2021, the second - in 2023. During the third, it is planned to land people on the Moon using the Orion spacecraft.
