(CNN) — NASA leadership is expected to announce a “month delay” on Tuesday for the first crewed mission of the agency’s flagship Artemis program, according to a current and former NASA employee.
The delay affects NASA’s Artemis II mission, which aims to send four astronauts on a trip to the moon and was scheduled to take off this November.
However, the mission is not expected before 2025, according to sources, confirming months of speculation that a postponement was imminent.
In a November report, NASA’s inspector general hinted at potential mission delays, citing three key issues the space agency must resolve before it can safely land humans on the moon.
First, the ground structure used to build, transport and launch the program’s massive Space Launch System rocket — called Mobile Launcher 1 — “suffered more damage than expected.”
The November report stated that repairs to the structure were ongoing.
Second, the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield—destined for astronauts aboard Artemis II—was “unexpectedly destroyed” during Artemis I when it was exposed to temperatures as hot as the Sun’s surface. Earth’s atmosphere during re-entry.
Finally, the inspector general outlined what NASA officials consider the “primary critical path” for the Artemis II mission: preparing Orion for its first crew and integrating it with the European Service Module, which provides power and propulsion. The “critical path” in project planning refers to the aspect of the mission that is expected to take the longest.
Artemis motives
The Artemis II mission was to build on the success of the Artemis I mission, an uncrewed test flight that sent NASA’s Orion capsule on a 1.4 million mile journey to the Moon. The journey ends in December 2022.
The Artemis II mission will be the first manned lunar orbit since the end of the Apollo program. The crew, announced in April, includes NASA’s Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The trip will last about 10 days and send the crew beyond the moon, possibly farther into space than any human has ever traveled, although the exact distance has not yet been determined.
Artemis II is expected to pave the way for the Artemis III mission, which will take place later this decade and which NASA promises will be the first time a woman and a person of color have landed on the lunar surface. It will also be the first time a man has landed on the moon since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
NASA has set a launch date for Artemis III as 2025, although the space agency’s inspector general said delays could push the mission to 2026 or later.
