NASA to postpone moon landing mission to mid-2027

US space agency NASA said on Thursday it will postpone its first moon landing mission since the Apollo program by nearly a year to mid-2027. The Artemis III mission had been scheduled for September 2026. It would be the first human moon landing in more than half a century.

The agency said it will also postpone the implementation of Artemis II, aimed at sending crewed spacecraft to travel around the moon, for about seven months to April 2026. It says the change partly reflects the time needed to address life support systems for astronauts. Artemis is an international lunar exploration program. Japan has promised to bear the cost of developing a lunar rover, while NASA has offered Japanese astronauts opportunities to set foot on the lunar surface.