The start of the “Artemis 1” mission with which the Americans will return to the Moon has been postponed again

“Artemis 1”, the first mission of the US program to return the US to the Moon, is postponed for the spring, NASA announced today, attributing the delay to the large volume of tests that must precede.

The launch was originally scheduled for late 2021, but was postponed to February 2022 and then to March. Today, the US space agency said in a statement that it was “examining the possibility of launching in April and May.”

The mission will not be manned, but it will mark the start of the Artemis program, in which the United States intends to send astronauts to the Moon again – including the first woman and the first African-American.

The giant SLS rocket will fly for the first time, carrying the Orion spacecraft that will be placed in orbit around the Moon, before returning to Earth. The “rehearsal general” of the launch was originally scheduled for February, but was postponed to March, which means that the normal launch will be delayed. In order to be tested, the rocket must be placed on the launch pad, its tanks filled with fuel and the whole process completed up to the countdown – but without the 0. It will depend on how this rehearsal goes and the launch date.

Tom Whitmeier, head of development of NASA’s exploration systems, explained that the delay was not due to a specific problem. “There are just a lot of things to do, it’s a huge vehicle,” he said.

The fully assembled SLS rocket, located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is almost 100 meters high.

A few months ago, an independent report by the Office of the Inspector General stated that the “Artemis 1” mission will most likely begin in the summer of 2022.

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