With the Space Launch System facing potential cancellation, the Artemis program will already a rough time paving a path to the Moon and it’s only getting worse. NASA announced last week that the next two Artemis missions will be delayed again following the discovery of Orion’s capsule heat shield cracked and chipped away in places during the Artemis I mission in 2022. NASA’s return to the Moon is now slated for mid-2027 at the soonest.
Artemis I was an uncrewed test mission that featured a lunar fly-by before the empty Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. During re-entry, gases built up inside the heat shield’s Avcoat, an ablative outer material coating. The gases had nowhere to vent and created pressure that caused cracking on the surface. The cracking led to charred pieces of the heat shield breaking off. The shield is intended to be charred and worn, but not completely chipped away. Despite the concerns, the space agency emphasized that the temperature within the capsule “remained comfortable and safe.” Catherine Koerner, a NASA associate administrator, said:
“Throughout our process to investigate the heat shield phenomenon and determine a forward path, we’ve stayed true to NASA’s core values; safety and data-driven analysis remained at the forefront. The updates to our mission plans are a positive step toward ensuring we can safely accomplish our objectives at the Moon and develop the technologies and capabilities needed for crewed Mars missions.”
Artemis II, the first crewed mission, was delayed from November 2024 to April 2026 as a direct result of NASA’s investigation. However, Artemis II will use the current iteration of the Orion heat shield. Engineers are confident that they can modify the capsule’s trajectory to shorten its re-entry and limit the time spent at high temperatures. I hope this decision wasn’t made simply because the heat shield was already fitted to the capsule slated for Artemis II.
Artemis III, the long-awaited return to the Moon, was pushed back from September 2026 to mid-2027 if everything works out flawlessly on Artemis II. This isn’t the first delay and it likely won’t be the last. Starship HLS, the SpaceX-built Artemis lander, still needs to complete its uncrewed test mission next year. The Boeing Starliner debacle showed that successful tests aren’t a given and a significant failure could derail the entire program.
Any further delays could allow the China Manned Space Agency to overtake NASA’s recent progress. The rival Moon program is already testing its Mengzhou spacecraft and Lanyue lander. The CMSA aims to certify both vehicles for crewed flight within the next two years and attempt a lunar landing by 2030. There’s a serious chance that a taikonaut could be the first person to step foot on the Moon in the 21st century.
