Kennedy Space Center – There is a sense of urgency between NASA and its partners, aiming to make the first human spaceflight in the Artemis program.
Artemis II plans to launch four astronauts on a 10-day trip to the moon by April 2026. However, as President Trump and his adviser and SpaceX founder Elon Musk defeated the drums for Mars, Artemis’ schedule suddenly slows down, and the program’s costs seem to be high.
And the future of the country’s first crew moon mission for over 50 years may depend on balance.
“We push not just days, but hours every day,” said Lockheed Martin’s Kent Sileman, director of the Orion Spacecraft Program, at the Artemis Media event on Friday. “If we can go a little further, it’s valuable. Absolutely. 24/7 we’ll be there every day.”
It all leads to the potential for major changes in the multi-billion-dollar Artemis program as it seeks the blessings of a new presidential administration. Pushing a previous launch day could be useful in the short term, but major changes could be on the path. It will abandon the costly space launch system rockets, which are not reusable, and will pitch Orion capsules as a candidate for Mars trip in addition to its lunar mission.
All of this may be necessary if the program that has been working since the mid-2000s is to survive Trump administration budget choppers and Mars or bust enthusiasts.
For now, Speed is an obsession with partners involved in launches, including major contractors Boeing and Northrop Grumman, major contractors working on SLS rockets, and NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems, who are working to deploy to stack SLS and Orion to launch pad 39-Bs in vehicle assembly buildings.
“We’ve looked at multiple opportunities on how to run a certain area a little faster, and quickly, moving the schedule to support it earlier than the April release date.”
They hope to buy back months for missions that are already delayed by NASA. The 2022 launch initially looked like a major success, but in reality it gave NASA some big ticket headaches to solve it before considering putting a human on their next flight.
Those humans are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hanson. Some of their tasks are to prove that Orion can protect them during intense flight conditions, including re-entry hitting temperatures of around 25,000 mph and hitting temperatures of near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The challenge of surviving these conditions led to the last delay for NASA, pushing what was the target for September 2024 to its launch target for April 2025. Orion’s heat shield suffered unexpected damage during the Artemis I Reintry, with no fist-sized chunks of protective coatings, and it took months to find a fix.
Currently, NASA is looking to accelerate its timeline.
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There are still many parts. On Friday morning, the SLS rocket’s core stage sat in one corner of the assembly building, but is expected to move to another corner by the end of the month. Together, they are designed to provide £8.8 million thrust to propel Orion into its deep-sea destination.
Orion itself is almost complete at the nearby Neil Armstrong Operation & Checkout Building. It will be moved to the assembly building in late April or early May.
“We’re working very hard to accelerate that schedule. Certainly, on the Orion side, we can deliver,” said Howard Who, NASA’s Orion Project Manager.
He hopes to carry the fully assembled rocket and spacecraft to the launch pad by December.
Clifranham, senior vehicle operations manager with NASA ground system, said the team dealt with all the gremlins that pop up a few months before the release of Artemis I, including leaks in the propellant line that had flowed into the rocket.
“We’ve seen these challenges, but we feel we’ve taken care of them,” he said.
Moon or Mars?
Is that enough?
In his first term, President Trump was an Artemis supporter and was about to carry out his landing mission by 2024.
But now there’s a signal that once Trump takes office, the moon could be a lower priority.
“We’re going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on Earth’s Mars,” Trump said during this week’s joint session of Congress.
The declaration elicited quick support from a man who is set to become the next NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman. He posted “The Next Giant Leap” on X, which gave Star Trek Captains Kirk and Dr. McCoy memes and approval.
However, current leadership at NASA is still looking to the moon. Deputy Administrator Janet Petro has pitched the profits of the month through the lens of nationalists who could please Trump during a recent press conference on the Commercial Month Lander.
“I think this administration really wants to keep America first. I think the way we keep America first is by dominating all spheres of the universe,” she said. So, as long as we continue to control that space, I think we’re going to put America first. We’re going to be proud of America. We are doing this for the American citizens. ”
That doesn’t mean there’s no change.
There are already signs of an SLS rocket and can be cut out from the Artemis program. Boeing was ready to fire as many as 400 employees working at SLS earlier this year in response to a decision by the administration.
Recent testimony at the Congressional hearing suggests that NASA could choose to drop the SLS after the Artemis III and support commercial heavy-duty rockets such as Blue Origin’s new Glenn and SpaceX’s Starship.
The SLS Rockets are single-use vehicles that are currently available in the form of a single vehicle that can only be released once a year. They already cost the country nearly $24 billion, with future SLS rockets in the country at around $2.5 billion pop.
But Orion, built primarily by Lockheed Martin, may be able to pivot into Mars’ obligations.
“Mars says in the photo: Orion is meant to help the crew returning home from the moon, and ultimately the crew returning home from Mars,” Siléman said. “I think Orion will definitely serve that purpose.”
And, for now, it is designed to go to the top of the SLS, but it could potentially move to another rocket, he said.
“Orion is a spaceship, right? You can call it a payload. Yes, in the end, you throw a certain speed into space and need something. Yes, you can change it to fly to another vehicle,” he said.
That said, he is a huge supporter for sticking to the plan. Orion faced years of delay when the NASA constellation program was cancelled before finding a resurrection as part of Artemis.
“I don’t think the best course for our country is changing courses right now,” he said. “We need to continue with the hardware here and do that. We’re right in the cusp. Let’s go.”
Original issue: March 9, 2025 7am EDT
