"Assuming the Space X lander is ready. We plan to launch Artemus III in mid-2027. That will be well ahead of the Chinese Government's announced intention that they have already publicly stated is 2030."

"So, one area that's taken us a considerable amount of time to learn from Artemis I is how the heat shield performed during the mission. Obviously, very critical aspect of the mission. After Artemis I, we noticed that there was a variation across the appearance of the Apollo Heat Shield where the material that coats the capsule at the bottom, that protects the capsule during the heat of reentry, it wore away differently than we expected."

"We had to understand why that erosion variation in the heat shield occurred to make sure that our astronauts would be safe during Artemis II."

"Our team did identify the correct root cause of the Artemis heat shield issue. They (an independent review team) also validated that our test approach would bound the risk that again ultimately led to the flight rationale that it was safe to fly."

Nelson told a news conference at NASA headquarters that the next Artemis mission, sending astronauts around the moon and back, has slipped to April 2026, with the subsequent astronaut landing mission using SpaceX's Starship planned for the following year.

"Assuming the SpaceX lander is ready, we plan to launch Artemis III in mid-2027," Nelson said.

"That will be well ahead of the Chinese government's announced intention" to land on the lunar surface by 2030, Nelson added, illustrating the competition between the world's top two space powers as they race to the moon.

The newly announced delays came after NASA concluded an examination of the Orion crew capsule, made by Lockheed Martin, and its heat shield, which had cracked and partially eroded during reentry into Earth's atmosphere on its debut 2022 uncrewed test mission, Artemis I.

Nelson said he and other senior NASA officials unanimously decided at a meeting this week to keep the heat shield design as is for Artemis II, but change the capsule's return trajectory to prevent the cracking issues.

Orion capsules on missions beyond Artemis II will have an upgraded heat shield. Replacing the Artemis II heat shield would have caused a much longer delay of at least a year, according to Pam Melroy, NASA's deputy administrator.

The Artemis II mission, a flight carrying astronauts around the moon in Orion but without a landing, has experienced previous delays as well, including one announced by Nelson in January pushing back its time table to September 2025.