--- title: "NASA Reportedly Forced to Push Back Moon Landing After SpaceX Fails to Deliver Starship" description: "NASA's first crewed lunar landing mission in over half a century dubbed Artemis 3 will likely be delayed due to Starship issues." date: "2024-01-09" modified: "2024-01-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-push-back-moon-landing-spacex-starship" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "artemis" - "moon" - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # NASA Reportedly Forced to Push Back Moon Landing After SpaceX Fails to Deliver Starship ![NASA's first crewed lunar landing mission in over half a century dubbed Artemis 3 will likely be delayed due to Starship issues.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Starship Has Sailed NASA's efforts to return humans to the lunar surface are facing some serious delays. As [*Reuters* reports](), the space agency's first crewed lunar landing mission in over half a century, dubbed Artemis 3 will likely slip from its tentative late 2025 launch date, with insider sources saying that the issue is SpaceX is taking longer than expected to reach certain milestones with its massive Starship spacecraft (you know, the one that [keeps]() [exploding]().) Similarly, NASA's Artemis 2 mission, a crewed journey around the Moon and back, will also likely be pushed back due to recently uncovered issues with Lockheed Martin's Orion crew capsule, per the report. Given the astronomical complexities involved, the news shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. SpaceX has been working at a fever pitch to get its 165-foot stainless steel rocket into orbit and carried out [two orbital launch attempts]() last year — both of which ended in, well, [don't call them failures]() but the missions didn't survive. ## Not Ready Yet The plan is to have a Starship Human Landing System spacecraft rendezvous with an Orion spacecraft and ferry NASA astronauts from the Moon's orbit down to the surface. It's a complicated mission that involves several Starship spacecraft [fueling a Moon landing variant]() in Earth's orbit, before meeting up with the crew hundreds of thousands of miles away. SpaceX still has a lot to prove, including achieving a stable orbit, swapping fuel between spacecraft, and of course the ability to make a safe and soft approach to the lunar surface. Despite the delays, NASA is still making progress toward its goal of returning the first astronauts to the lunar surface in over half a century. So far, NASA already has one successful Artemis mission under its belt, having [launched an uncrewed Orion capsule]() around the Moon and back in 2022. According to *Reuters*, NASA is expected to announce revised plans today, so stay tuned. *Updated to correctly identify the manufacturer of the Orion crew capsule.* **More on Artemis:** *[This Multi-Purpose Moon Habitat Looks Cool as Hell]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()