"Space is hard:" NASA pushes back target dates for Artemis return to the moon launches

NASA's Artemis II mission, aimed at sending humans around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, has once again been delayed.

Artemis II has been pushed from a target of late next year to April 2026, while Artemis III, which will land humans on the moon, is postponed until mid-2027. The announced delays came after a NASA administration meeting Thursday.

NASA said it needs time to ensure all the issues observed with the Orion spacecraft are corrected for the safety of the astronauts.

In announcing the decision, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recalled President Kennedy's famous "We choose to go to the moon" speech.

"Space is hard," said Nelson. "And the endeavor like Artemis over a half a century after Apollo is hard. It's the pinnacle of new possibilities. It's the most daring, technologically challenging, collaborative, international endeavor that humanity has ever set out to do. And the Artemis I test flight was just that. It was a flight test on a new spacecraft and new technology.'

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