Image via NASA
NASA’s plan to return American astronauts to the Moon by 2024 has hit a snag, with significant delays in the development of spacesuits, the space agency’s Inspector General Paul K Martin revealed in a new report.
The plan to land the first woman and next man on the Moon was first introduced by the Trump administration, with a goal date of 2028, which was then moved to 2024. The Biden administration has now added the goal of landing the first person of color on the Moon to the program.
Despite NASA spending over US$1,000,000,000 on its next-generation spacesuits, Martin said they “would not be ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest,” and that the spacesuits were “years away from completion.”
The delays were due to the lack of funding, technical challenges, and last year’s COVID-19 pandemic. In total, the spacesuit has a total of 27 companies working on its various components. However, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has offered help, saying that the current arrangement may have “too many cooks in the kitchen,” and that “SpaceX could do it if need be.”
SpaceX is already partnering NASA in a US$2.9 billion contract to construct the next lunar lander for the Artemis program. This contract saw NASA embroiled in a tussle involving SpaceX’s competitors, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Dynetics. Martin said NASA’s delay in meeting its 2024 goal was also contributed by the protests, along with delays to its Space Launch System and Orion Capsule.
In a recent interview with CNN, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “I’m soberly realistic. The goal is 2024, but space is hard. And we know when you are pushing the edge of the envelope, often there are delays. There’s a No 1 factor and that’s safety, and it’s involving humans. There might be a delay, but the goal is late 2024.”
Though Martin and Nelson’s expected launch dates don’t add up, it’s clear the mission to the Moon is facing major delays. NASA has been working on the development of its new spacesuit for at least 14 years, which are said to be critical for “returning humans to the Moon, continuing safe operations on the International Space Station, and exploring Mars and other deep space locations.”
To ensure the spacesuits are developed as soon as possible, the report made four recommendations. As reported by CNN, it suggested adjusting the schedule to reduce development risks, and creating a master schedule that would combine hardware and training needs. The document also said NASA should ensure “technical requirements for the next-generation suits are solidified before selecting the acquisition strategy to procure suits for the ISS and Artemis programs.”
The space agency released a statement following the report, which read: “Sending the first woman and first person of color to the lunar surface and establishing a long-term presence at the Moon under Artemis is a priority for NASA. The agency is evaluating the current budget and schedule for Artemis missions and will provide an update later this year.”
While it’s still a long way from NASA being ready to send the next humans to the Moon, here’s to hoping it won’t be pushed back for too long.
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