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NASA's Artemis lunar program was begin in 2017

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US estimated to spend $93 billion on it through 2025

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - NASA chief Bill Nelson

announced on Thursday new delays in the U.S. space agency's

Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon for the first

time since 1972, pushing back the next two planned missions

including the planned lunar landing.

Nelson told a news conference that the next Artemis mission,

sending astronauts around the moon and back, has slipped to

April 2026, with the subsequent moon landing mission pushed to

2027.

The Artemis program was established by NASA during

President-elect Donald Trump's first administration with the

goal of returning astronauts to the moon for the first time

since the U.S. space agency's Apollo 17 mission. The program is

intended to establish a lunar base as a step toward the more

ambitious goal of human missions to Mars. The United States is

estimated to spend roughly $93 billion on the program through

2025.

The Artemis program has made noteworthy progress but also

has experienced various delays and rising costs. In 2022, NASA

carried out the Artemis I mission, a 25-day uncrewed voyage

around the moon ending when the Orion capsule carrying a

simulated crew of three mannequins made a successful splash down

in the Pacific.

That marked the first flight of NASA's massive Space Launch

System rocket, a powerful and over-budget vehicle tasked with

launching humans to space aboard the Orion capsule built by

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ). SpaceX's Starship is contracted to land

astronauts on the moon's surface.

The follow-up Artemis II mission, a flight carrying

astronauts around the moon in Orion but without a landing, has

experienced delays, including one announced by Nelson in January

pushing back its time table to September 2025. Nelson on

Thursday said it would be further delayed until April 2026.

The Artemis III mission is planned as the lunar landing.

Nelson in January said that mission was pushed back to September

2026. Nelson said this will now be in mid-2027.

NASA is using SpaceX, Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), Boeing ( BA ) and

other contractors in the Artemis program.

The trip by the Artemis astronauts to the moon is planned as

a relay among multiple spacecraft in space, initially launching

off Earth aboard Orion then transferring in space to the

Starship system to go to and from the lunar surface.

The United States and China, an ascending power in space,

are racing to land astronauts on the moon. Both nations are

courting partner countries and leaning on private companies for

their moon programs.

The Artemis program has been NASA's top priority under

Nelson. The program will lean heavily on SpaceX's Starship

rocket. Trump's first NASA chief, former U.S. congressman Jim

Bridenstine, launched the Artemis program and persuaded Congress

to increase the agency's budget to fund it. Trump has picked

billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, an associate of SpaceX

founder Elon Musk, to succeed Nelson as NASA chief.

SpaceX is hoping for swift advances in Starship development

during the second Trump administration, whose space agenda is

expected to give the Artemis program a greater focus on the more

ambitious goal of landing people on Mars, Musk's premier space

aspiration.