NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are in serious trouble according to leaked documents.
The Artemis III mission, the first crewed mission to the lunar surface, will likely be pushed back from its original date due to budget constraints.
The goal of reaching the moon by 2024 is starting to feel like a distant dream.
The new schedules show that the agency is preparing for more inevitable delays, distinguishing between "baseline" dates, the schedule as it stands, a "cadence" schedule that would prioritize regular launches, and a "content" program that would only launch when each component of each mission is present
The Artemis III mission wouldn't launch until 2026 and a rover wouldn't reach the moon until 2032 under the schedule.
An interim mission between Artemis III and Artemis IV is being considered by the agency to fill a three-year gap.
The rocket configuration of the agency's Space Launch System, called Block 1B, is far from ready, which is a problem for launching the Gateway. Just like the SLS program, the tower it's building for the launch is over budget and behind schedule.
The Gateway is a small outpost that could be turned into an extremely expensive and redundant platform if the business reality of sending astronauts to the moon is anything to go by.
The schedule of returning the first NASA astronauts to the moon since the early 1970s is still being worked out by NASA.
NASA's future moon missions are likely to be delayed.
NASA is years behind the moon landing schedule, according to a report.
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