Following countless delays plaguing its efforts to return the first astronauts to the lunar surface in over half a century, NASA could finally be bucking the trend.
NASA officials revealed today that the agency’s Artemis 2 mission, which will see a crew of four astronauts travel around the Moon and back, could launch as soon as February 5, roughly two months earlier than previously anticipated.
Back in December, NASA’s administrator at the time Bill Nelson announced that Artemis 2 would be pushed from late 2025 to April 2026, while Artemis 3, the first planned mission to the lunar surface, would slip to mid-2027.
But during a mission update from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, acting deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Lakiesha Hawkins revealed that the agency may consider taking advantage of launch windows as early as February for Artemis 2.
“As we get closer, we’ll be able to more clearly communicate what those periods could be,” she said, as quoted by the Orlando Sentinel.
While there’s no guarantee of a February lift-off, it’s a breath of fresh air, considering previous delays. Lawmakers are also becoming increasingly concerned that China could beat the United States back to the Moon as the space agency’s Artemis program continues to lag behind.
While NASA is currently aiming no earlier than mid-2027 for its Artemis 3 mission, China has made significant progress towards its own lunar landing mission, aiming to land the first Chinese astronauts on the Moon “before 2030.”
In that tight race, launching Artemis 2 several months earlier could give NASA precious additional time.
“Let me emphasize that this is a test flight, and so the activities that we do together, we are going to learn from them,” Hawkins said during today’s mission update. “While Artemis 1 was a great success, there are new systems and new capabilities that we will be demonstrating on Artemis 2, including the life support systems, the display capabilities, software, etc.”
The news comes after the Trump administration signaled that it’s willing to keep NASA’s space exploration budget largely unchanged for next year, while also making dramatic cuts to the agency’s science directorate.
NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, rebuked widespread concerns of China beating the US to the Moon, telling employees during a town hall earlier this month that the agency “can’t side on the side of doing nothing because we’re afraid of any risk.”
“We are going to beat the Chinese to the Moon,” he said at the time. “We are going to make sure that we do this safely. We’re going to do it fast. We’re going to do it right.”
In her comments today, Hawkins also alluded to the Trump administration’s fear of being overtaken by its adversary.
“The message has been clear to us that this administration asks us to acknowledge that we are indeed in what people have commonly called a second space race,” she said. “There is a desire for us to return to the surface of the moon and to be the first to return to the surface of the Moon.”
NASA has tons of work to do before it can launch a first crewed mission around the Moon by February — the furthest any human will have ever flown into space, according to officials.
Top of mind in the two years since its Artemis 1 uncrewed test flight was the significant damage the heatshield of the Orion crew capsule incurred after reentry. Late last year, NASA announced that it had “identified the technical cause” of the problem.
After years of delays and setbacks, the Artemis 2 mission is finally starting to take shape. The agency announced last week that its Space Launch System rocket is ready to fly.
Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said during today’s update that the rocket and Orion crew capsule will have to be joined, after which the stack will undergo a “wet dress rehearsal.”
If all goes according to plan — a substantial “if,” given the level of complexity involved — the crew will spend ten days on its journey to the Moon and back.
“We’re making preparations, and when we are ready to safely launch, we are going to accelerate as much as we can to do so,” Hawkins said during today’s update. “We’ll be able to execute this mission, and it is our plan and our desire to be able to bring our crew safely home.”
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