Posted on 09/26/2026 5:19:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
NASA's Artemis III mission is about three months behind schedule, administrator Jared Isaacman says, putting pressure on the agency's plan to launch two moon-landing missions in 2028.
In a wide-ranging email to employees on Sunday, Isaacman said Artemis III could launch in the summer of 2027, preserving two opportunities for lunar landings the following year. But that's the "best-case scenario."
NASA doesn't plan to put astronauts on the moon during Artemis III. The agency redesigned the mission earlier this year as a crewed flight in Earth orbit, wherein astronauts would rehearse docking the Orion spacecraft with lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin...
NASA announced an overhaul to the Artemis architecture in February, wedging this 2027 mission in between Artemis II's lunar flyby and the first crewed landing... That major redesign has meant sidelining a complicated project to build an orbiting lunar space station, called Gateway, that would have served as both a lab and pit stop for lunar missions. NASA has since pivoted to building a moon base on the surface instead.
(Excerpt) Read more at mashable.com ...
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NASA's Artemis III mission is delayed again, with a launch now set for late 2027. Technical issues with lunar landing systems from SpaceX and Blue Origin, plus challenges in cryogenic fuel storage and Orion's heat shield, contribute to setbacks...
NASA's ambitious Artemis III mission - aimed at paving the way for astronauts to return to the Moon - has been pushed back once again, with the launch now expected no earlier than late 2027 as the US space agency grapples with technical challenges, spacecraft readiness issues, and delays involving its commercial partners...
NASA's Artemis III mission will no longer attempt an immediate Moon landing. Instead, the mission is now expected to focus on testing rendezvous and docking operations in Earth orbit between NASA's Orion spacecraft and commercial lunar landers...
NASA's Artemis campaign has already faced multiple delays over the years. In December 2024, the agency shifted Artemis II to 2026 and Artemis III to mid-2027 following concerns surrounding Orion's life-support systems and heat shield performance.
- Artemis III Delayed Again: Why NASA's Moon Mission Has Slipped to Late 2027
Melvin Narayan | Updated 1 May 2026 | Republic World
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This is just bs crock of crap by nasa/our big ol govt. We dont have the type of people around in positions necessary to get to the moon again. They’re gone, largely driven out because “times changed”.
3 months? I’d guess closer to 3 years at least.
I asked AI who are the contractors, and why are they behind.
The ~90-day delay for the Artemis III mission—disclosed in a internal memo by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman—is not tied to a single contractor, but stems from bottlenecked component suppliers and hardware integration across several primary contractors:
Boeing & L3Harris (Space Launch System Core Stage & Engines): Delays are linked to suppliers and subcontractors supplying valves and thrust vector control actuators required for the SLS core stage assembly. Boeing builds the core stage, while L3Harris produces the RS-25 engines.
Lockheed Martin (Orion Spacecraft): Delays surround the production schedule of the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) Engine for the Orion spacecraft, prompting NASA to assist directly in component manufacturing to accelerate timeline recovery.
Blue Origin & SpaceX (Human Landing Systems / Test Vehicles): Artemis III requires docking practice in Earth orbit with human landing system (HLS) vehicles developed by SpaceX (Starship HLS) and Blue Origin (Blue Moon). Blue Origin’s readiness was impacted by an engine explosion during a static fire test on Launch Complex 36 that damaged its launch infrastructure.
Only SpaceX is not behind due to their issues.
Um.....there is no moon lander and it is very unlikely one will be ready in just 2 years.
For all you people who are wanting to rip on NASA, Isaacman is the real deal. He is breaking up DECADES of poor decisions and mismanagement. He is applying SERIOUS heat to contractors who are not delivering on time.
It takes a lot of time to reverse bureaucratic mismanagement.
Musk will probably do it for practice or just on a lark long before Artemis is ready.
Actually, I misspoke, Musk will probably have a moon base and fueling station on the moon by then for his Mars mission. Maybe a Starlink manufacturing plant too.
I am certain that NASA has needed a lot of serious bureaucrat fumigating too. Ugg.
We have never landed on the moon.
The US also lacks the domestic supply chains and industrial infrastructure it possessed in the 1960’s and 1970’s when American manufacturing and industrial engineering was best in the world. The US today does not today have the industrial infrastructure to fight World War II again on the same scale and timetable it did on the 1940’s, much less replicate the decade long effort to land a man on the moon in the 1960’s.
Look at the Iran War. After 6 months we are in a critical supply situation for key weapons that will take years, not months, to recover from due to insufficient domestic manufacturing capacity. Our modern navy has more admirals than ships and one of our super carriers is limping home for repairs due to a “laundry fire” that will take months, if not years, to complete. We are fighting cheap 21st century drones with million dollar missiles that can’t be quickly replenished. It isn’t just NASA struggling to accomplish its mission in a world where the US gave away its manufacturing supply chain superiority to China.
MEANWHILE-—MUSK IS 3 YEARS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
The fascinating thing to me about this conspiracy theory is that it would require the Soviets to be in on it, when they would have had so much to gain exposing the fraud.
Isaacman’s perfect for the job, IMHO.
He’s getting the cadence to rise, using (and using up) the tag-ends of various past partial systems, which is similar in effect to the 1960s — three major programs in succession (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo) with each one accomplishing proofs of concept, learning new information and techniques.
Using military pilots and/or test pilots was genius back then. Rapid engineering was still a tradition that had grown out of WWII.
Also, NASA coordinated private contractors who actually designed and built the subsystems and launchers. Same as today.
I was ten years old when Apollo 11 went to the moon. Back then, NOBODY believed the moon landings were faked until 1976, when a book came out with the title “We Never Went to the Moon.” And then two years later came “Capricorn One,” a movie about what would happen if the first manned mission to Mars was faked.
Over the years, I have noticed that everyone who believes the Apollo missions were fake is too young to remember those flights when they happened. Should I say that I find their lack of faith disturbing?
Yes. And the entire West did or is doing the same.
In Germany’s case, they have record energy prices driving industrial activity out of the country.
And Germany also displays the construction futility as the rest of the West, eg Carola Bridge in Dresden
I have noticed that too looking at YouTube videos of Moon landing doubters. I was 19 in 1969 during the first Moon landing and I have no doubt it was real.
Yet technology, especially computer technology, is so much more advanced since the 1960s. One would think a moon landing would be easier this time.
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