NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the crewed Artemis II mission has been pushed back to April 2026 from a hoped-for September 2025 launch, while Artemis III -- which is to land the first woman and next man on the moon -- is now slated for mid-2027.
Nelson said engineers need time to prepare the heat shield on the Orion capsule, which already is attached, but needs modifications to safely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
More time also needed to "address the Orion environmental control and life support systems," he said.
"The Artemis campaign is the most daring, technically challenging, collaborative, international endeavor humanity has ever set out to do," Nelson said in a statement.
"We have made significant progress on the Artemis campaign over the past four years, and I'm proud of the work our teams have done to prepare us for this next step forward in exploration as we look to learn more about Orion's life support systems to sustain crew operations during Artemis II.
"We need to get this next test flight right. That's how the Artemis campaign succeeds."
The Artemis II launch will send four astronauts around the moon as part of NASA's effort to establish a long-term presence there for science and exploration through the Artemis program.
The planned 10-day flight is to test NASA's "foundational," human deep-space exploration capabilities, its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the first time with astronauts.
The agency announced in October that the "root cause" of the uneven erosion on the heat shield of the unmanned Artemis I had been identified. Officials on Thursday explained further during a news conference at the agency's headquarters in Washington.
After an extensive investigation, engineers determined that changes to Orion's trajectory as it enters Earth's atmosphere and slows from nearly 25,000 mph to about 325 mph before its parachutes unfurl for safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean can be instituted to avoid the heat shield charring.
NASA carried out more than 100 tests at facilities across the country and determined the heat shield on Artemis I did not allow for enough of the gases generated inside a material called Avcoat to escape, causing some of the material to crack and break off.
Although a crew was not inside Orion during Artemis I, data shows the temperature inside the capsule remained comfortable and safe had a crew been aboard, engineers said.
The delay announced Thursday was the latest in a string of them for the ambitious Moon landing program. In January, NASA announced the Artemis III launch had been pushed back by a year from late 2025 to September 2026.
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