NASA postpones the first crewed moon mission in over 50 years
The scheduled mission to land on the moon in 2026 will now occur no earlier than mid-2027
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TRAVEL Nasa
NASA's Artemis program, designed to return astronauts to the moon this decade as part of a renewed global effort for lunar exploration, is encountering further delays.
The delay is partly attributed to problems with the Orion crew capsule, which will house astronauts during both lunar missions. NASA had previously revealed that during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, the spacecraft’s heat shield, designed to protect Orion from burning up during reentry into Earth's atmosphere, suffered unexpected charring and erosion.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated that the space agency has “done extensive testing to understand the risk that our astronauts will have while accomplishing the goals of landing back on the moon." The planned mission to land on the moon in 2026 will now take place no sooner than mid-2027.
Since the first efforts to get humans into space and on the moon, there have been numerous space expeditions and technological advances. But not all have been successful, and many astronauts caught up in space experiments did not live to tell the tale. See the most tragic space missions in history in this gallery.
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