Chased by China and tripped by 'Trump'... US "Moon landing mission delayed by 1 year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Even NASA, the U.S. space agency renowned for its guaranteed independence, has not been immune to external pressures. The ambitious plans set during former President Trump's administration, including the 2024 Artemis project?the second crewed lunar exploration in human history?have faced numerous setbacks such as lawsuits, causing delays of over a year. This situation has become even more challenging for NASA amid China's aggressive space ambitions, including Mars and lunar exploration.

On the 9th (Eastern Time, U.S.), NASA held a press conference announcing that the 2024 crewed lunar exploration schedule (Artemis 3) will be postponed by at least one year to 2025 or later.

At the press conference, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson cited the lawsuit filed by Blue Origin over the bid to build the Human Landing System (HLS) for astronauts as a primary reason for the overall project delay of more than seven months.

Nelson explained, "Due to ongoing litigation under relevant laws, we were unable to communicate with SpaceX, which is responsible for the HLS program, for seven months. It was only on the 5th, when the federal court issued its ruling, that we first engaged in discussions with SpaceX and agreed to resume the program." NASA plans to conduct a detailed review of the program with SpaceX and adjust the overall schedule accordingly before finalizing it.

In April, NASA conducted a $2.9 billion bid for the lunar lander development project and selected Elon Musk's SpaceX as the sole contractor. Initially, two companies were to be selected, but due to a smaller-than-expected budget allocation by Congress, only one contractor was chosen. However, Blue Origin, founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, filed a lawsuit claiming unfairness, which the court dismissed on the 4th.

The Artemis program's setbacks were not limited to lawsuits. In the 2021 fiscal year budget request during the Trump administration in 2020, NASA sought $3.3 billion for related funding, but Congress allocated only $850 million, severely hampering NASA's ability to proceed with the project.

Administrator Nelson particularly criticized the Trump administration's "haphazard" planning. He stated, "The 2024 crewed lunar exploration schedule was unattainable from the start," and added, "The Trump administration's 2024 execution goal was not based on technical feasibility." Nelson had already raised doubts earlier this year about the feasibility of the Artemis program's 2024 timeline, citing delays in developing the spacesuits astronauts will wear on the lunar surface.

Moreover, NASA's lunar orbit crewed spacecraft (Orion, Artemis 2) round-trip program, which precedes the crewed lunar landing, is also experiencing delays. Jim Free, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development, explained, "Development has been delayed due to overlapping issues of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," and added, "The assembly building for the spacecraft in New Orleans was flooded by a hurricane, causing water damage to hardware." Consequently, the development cost of Orion, which began in 2012, has surged from the initial $6.7 billion to a recent $9.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the United States has planned a lunar exploration project named Artemis (the goddess of the moon) for the first time in over 50 years since Apollo 11's historic first human lunar landing in 1969. South Korea is actively participating as well, with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute co-developing exploration equipment with NASA. Following President Moon Jae-in's visit to the U.S. in May, South Korea became the 10th country to join the Artemis Accords.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.