NASA is expressing growing apprehension regarding the readiness of SpaceX’s lunar lander variant of the Starship vehicle for the upcoming Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for late 2025.

The extensive amount of work required to prepare the vehicle is raising concerns about meeting the mission’s timeline, Space News has reported.

During a joint session of the National Academies’ Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and Space Studies Board on June 7, Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator for exploration systems development, highlighted the potential delay of Artemis 3.

This mission aims to achieve the historic feat of human landing on the moon after more than 50 years, but it is at risk of being postponed from December 2025 to a later date in 2026.

Free emphasized that NASA’s concern primarily lies in the number of Starship launches that SpaceX needs to conduct in order to be fully prepared for Artemis 3.

Each Starship lander mission necessitates launching the lander itself along with multiple “tanker” Starships responsible for fueling the lander in Earth’s orbit before it embarks on its journey to the moon.

Prior to Artemis 3, SpaceX must execute an uncrewed Starship lunar landing and demonstrate cryogenic fluid transfer in Earth’s orbit.

Written by staff