According to a NASA watchdog audit released on Monday, the human-landing on the moon is not possible until 2027. In 2019, former Vice President Mike Pence aimed that NASA will accomplish the objective in 5 years.
While NASA has long emphasized the feasibility of that objective, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced on Tuesday that the agency will now aim for 2025 due to funding constraints.
But the new audit from NASA’s Office of Inspector General dashed the 2025 goal as unrealistic.
“Given the time needed to develop and fully test the [Human Landing System] and new spacesuits, we project NASA will exceed its current timetable for landing humans on the Moon in late 2024 by several years,” the Office of Inspector General said.
Our recovery team is certified for #Artemis I!
Teams with @NASA and @DeptofDefense recently returned from Underway Recovery Test 9 where they completed several test objectives, ensuring teams will be ready to retrieve Orion after its trip around the Moon: https://t.co/CrziXoLDs1 pic.twitter.com/rl1M4hGfNj
— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) November 9, 2021
The audit blames the delays on space agency management, as well on the pandemic situation, which halted the work on NASA’s moon rocket, and “significantly less” congressional funding than NASA had requested.
NASA requested $3.4 billion for the lunar Human Landing System programmed this year, but only $850 million was authorized by Congress.
The new audit gives a suggestion to NASA that they should design a “realistic, risk-informed schedule” that includes potential delays in order to align expectations with the development schedule for rockets, capsules, spacesuits, and other equipment.
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