Delay of Artemis 3 Mission: Moon Landing May Occur No Earlier Than 2028
The Artemis 3 mission, which is to be the next stage of returning humans to the Moon, has faced a significant delay. According to a new internal SpaceX document published by Politico, Elon Musk's company may delay several key stages of Starship rocket testing. As a result, the landing of astronauts on the Moon is planned to occur only in September 2028, that is, a year later than the planned date.
What is known
The SpaceX document states that the demonstration of orbital refueling between two Starship vehicles may not occur until June 2026, and an uncrewed lunar landing is scheduled for June 2027. This means that the first attempt at a crewed landing is possible only in September 2028, provided all necessary tests are successfully passed.
Artemis 3 is to be the first mission after Apollo 17 in 1972 to bring humans to the Moon. Flight Artemis 2 is scheduled no earlier than February 2026 and involves a flyby of the satellite without landing. Artemis 1, which launched in November 2022, was uncrewed. Given SpaceX's new schedule, the Artemis program is progressing at a rate of no more than one mission every two years, which is significantly slower than the Apollo program of the 1960s.
Starship – a next-generation super-heavy rocket, fully reusable. After the first launch in 2023, SpaceX reached several important milestones, including the first successful catch of the Super Heavy booster using "Mechazilla" – giant arms on the launch tower.
In 2025, only two out of five Starship launches were relatively successful. The others ended with the loss of the ship's upper stage. At the same time, the company showed progress in testing the new Block 2 rocket version, particularly with soft water landings and booster re-launches.
To carry out the Moon landing as part of Artemis 3, SpaceX will have to refuel Starship up to 12 times in orbit. Only after this will the ship be able to land, take off again, and dock with the Orion capsule that will return astronauts to Earth.
Source: Space.com
