Nasa accelerates: astronauts heading to the Moon “no later than April 2026.” But Musk struggles

Artemis II could launch as early as February. Delays in the development of Starship, the SpaceX spacecraft chosen for the lunar landing, could instead stretch “for years.”

BY EMILIO COZZI

Less than five months. That is how long might be left before the launch of the first “human” mission to the Moon since the last time a crew ventured beyond Earth’s gravity, 53 years ago with Apollo 17.
Nasa announced it on September 23, during one of the press conferences held this week on Artemis II, the second mission of the U.S. program aimed at bringing humanity back to the lunar surface.
“The Agency is committed to launching no later than April 2026, and we intend to keep that commitment,” said Lakiesha Hawkins. “We are working to accelerate” and launch “potentially as early as February,” added the acting deputy associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at the American space agency.

For the first time, near the Moon, there will be a non-American. The crew is in fact made up of three Nasa astronauts, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch, along with mission specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency (Csa).

Artemis II Accelerates

The first available launch date will be February 5, declared Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director at Kennedy Space Center, with a window that opens from four to eight days that month.
The dates, it was specified during the event, are still indicative and much will depend on orbital mechanics and the progress of the work. Although the Space Launch System and the Orion capsule have already flown, they remain experimental vehicles, and Hawkins reiterated that this is a “test” flight. Nothing is taken for granted, especially in these early phases.
Among the critical activities to be carried out even before heading toward the Moon, while the spacecraft is still in Earth orbit, will be the verification of the life support system and manual maneuvers.
The first flight, Artemis I, took place three years ago and had no crew on board; everything went smoothly with the automatic systems. In case of a malfunction, however, a mission commander must be able to operate manually to ensure the crew’s safety.
If everything works as intended, a sequence of maneuvers would begin: “Orion will turn and head toward the Icps, the Sls upper stage, where the docking camera is located, which the crew will use to perform a series of maneuvers and ensure that all ground models, all the preparations we made before the flight, match what is happening with the spacecraft. Then a series of turns, approaches, and departures will be performed to make sure the vehicle’s manual controls behave as expected,” explained Judd Frieling, lead Artemis II ascent flight director.

Farther Than Anyone

If everything goes “nominal,” on its second orbit around Earth, Orion will ignite its engines to head toward the Moon (in case of problems it could wait an extra orbit).
It will take four days to reach its destination, and the mission could reach, depending on the launch day as distances may vary, the farthest point from Earth ever reached by humans: a record held by Apollo 13 at 400,073 kilometers.
The return will take just as long. As happened with Artemis I, and with the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 missions, the trajectory will follow a “free return” path. Orion will not actually enter orbit around the Moon but, describing a figure-eight, will fly behind it and return following the gravitational “currents” of the Earth-Moon system, without needing to fire its engines again, at least in theory. Reentry is scheduled ten days after launch, with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Artemis III Slows Down

Artemis III, the mission planned to land on the lunar surface, remains a dilemma.
This is the outcome of a visit conducted in August to SpaceX facilities by members of Nasa’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, or ASAP, which monitors mission progress and safety requirements. At a public meeting held on September 19, the members stated that they believe the Starship version of the Human Landing System, or HLS, could be delayed and may not meet Nasa’s announced date for returning to the Moon.
“The HLS schedule is significantly compromised and, according to our estimates, could be years behind for the Artemis III lunar landing in 2027,” said Paul Hill, one of the inspectors, as reported by Spacenews.com. The delay could prove disastrous for Nasa’s plans to beat the Chinese in what has been called the second space race. China, in fact, plans to reach the Moon in 2029 and, unlike the United States, is accelerating without hesitation.
Concerns were also confirmed by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. On September 16, at the World Space Business Week, she said that tests for propellant transfer, which are crucial to refuel Starship in Earth orbit before it heads to the Moon, worry her more than the docking of the spacecraft. “We hope it won’t be as difficult as some of my engineers think it could be,” she said. An eloquent summary of the situation.