NASA no longer plans to land on moon in next Artemis mission
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NASA will send Artemis III to low-Earth orbit instead of the moon, testing docking systems before a planned 2028 lunar landing.
The Artemis program is central to NASA’s long-term goal of establishing sustained human presence on the moon and preparing for eventual missions to Mars.
A test of NASA's towering Space Launch System rocket uncovered another issue with the vehicle meant to launch astronauts on a mission around the moon.
To fix the problem, NASA has to roll SLS and the stacked Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Weather permitting, teams will begin the rollback process on Tuesday, according to a Sunday update.
The two-day countdown test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida included filling up the tanks of the giant Space Launch System rocket with millions of pounds of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
NASA's Artemis II rocket successfully completed a major prelaunch test. The crew will now enter quarantine as potential launch dates come as early as March.