{"id":359618,"date":"2026-03-26T18:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359618\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T18:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:51:09","slug":"how-nasas-artemis-ii-became-a-make-or-break-moon-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359618\/","title":{"rendered":"How NASA\u2019s Artemis II became a make-or-break moon shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Future heat shields will feature design changes to fix the issue \u2014specifically, a more permeable layer of outer material \u2014 NASA officials said. But for Artemis II, the heat shield remains the same. <\/p>\n

To avoid risk to the astronauts, mission managers\u2019 strategy is to alter the capsule\u2019s re-entry path. Ordinarily, before it begins its final descent, the Orion spacecraft is meant to dip briefly into the atmosphere, then pop up again \u2014 like a stone skipping on the water\u2019s surface \u2014 to reduce heat stress and G-force on the capsule. It will not do that during this flight, however, instead descending faster and at a steeper angle to minimize the time it is exposed to the most extreme temperatures.<\/p>\n

The new plan came after extensive testing, according to NASA, and Isaacman said in January that he had \u201cfull confidence\u201d in the heat shield.<\/p>\n

Wiseman gave a similar assessment: \u201cIf we stick to the new re-entry path that NASA has planned, then this heat shield will be safe to fly,\u201d he said at a media event in July.<\/p>\n

Two years to a moon landing <\/p>\n

Another key criticism of the Artemis program has centered on the yearslong stretches between launches. Nearly four years have passed since the Artemis I flight, and until last month, the plan after Artemis II was to wait two more years for the next launch.<\/p>\n

Critics have argued that the lengthy intervals made the program less safe because teams could not improve and iterate quickly, the way commercial space companies like SpaceX do. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the Space Launch System cannot launch very frequently was a huge structural and safety risk that has been known for a long time,\u201d Dreier said, adding, \u201cYou only have so many chances to learn about what your failure modes are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NASA'sNASA’s Space Launch System rocket is rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 17.Joe Raedle \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

To address those issues, Isaacman recently revamped the Artemis program<\/a>. The changes, which he announced less than three months into his tenure at NASA, include additional missions and an increase in the pace of launches. <\/p>\n

Now, the Artemis III mission, which was originally going to land astronauts on the moon in 2028, will instead launch to low-Earth orbit in mid-2027 for technology tests and demonstrations. NASA\u2019s complicated plan to get to the lunar surface involves a second spacecraft \u2014 a lander built by SpaceX or Blue Origin \u2014 that would dock with Orion in lunar orbit, then carry the astronauts down to the moon. Artemis III aims to practice such a maneuver. The commercial sector has also faced setbacks, though: A report this month<\/a> from NASA\u2019s Office of Inspector General said SpaceX\u2019s Starship lander is behind schedule by \u201cat least two years, with additional delays expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under its new plan, NASA aims to put boots on the moon with the Artemis IV mission in 2028.<\/p>\n

As part of the changes, Isaacman said, the goal is to launch the Space Launch System rocket roughly every 10 months, rather than every three years. <\/p>\n

That all hinges on a successful Artemis II mission, which could give NASA \u2014 and perhaps the American public \u2014 a much-needed boost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever the White House really needs a good news story, they come to NASA,\u201d Melroy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Future heat shields will feature design changes to fix the issue \u2014specifically, a more permeable layer of outer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-359618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}