Artemis III slips to 2027: NASA confirms delays on SpaceX lander
The agency revises its roadmap for returning humans to the Moon. Open questions remain over HLS development and Starship's in-orbit refuelling tests.
NASA has made official what had been in the air for months: the Artemis III mission, meant to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, will not launch before 2027.
The knots still to untangle
The main issue remains development of the Human Landing System, the lander assigned to SpaceX and based on a modified version of Starship. Before it can carry astronauts to the Moon, the vehicle must prove it can perform a manoeuvre never attempted at this scale: refuelling propellant in orbit.
Without in-orbit propellant transfer, the entire mission architecture falls apart. It is the single most critical point of the whole programme.
It means transferring hundreds of tonnes of liquid methane and oxygen between two vehicles in Earth orbit, keeping the propellants at cryogenic temperatures. No one has ever done it.
What it means for Europe
The delay has consequences on this side of the Atlantic too. ESA provides key modules and components for the programme, and every slip ripples through the industrial planning of its European partners.