The National Aerospace Agency (NASA) announced on September 23 that the first manned moon-round mission "Alzheimer's Mess" will be carried out in April 2026, and may be ahead of February 2026.

The precondition is safety.

Senior NASA official Leica Hawkins announced at a news conference on 23 April that she would "keep the promise" to complete the "Alchemy Messier 2" mission in April 2026.

According to NASA, four astronauts will carry out the "Alchemy 2" mission and return to test the performance of the new generation of U.S. lunar rocket "space launch system" and "Lion" spacecraft, verify that the crucial life support system of the "Lion" spacecraft can provide life assurance to astronauts in future long-term missions, preparing for the next moon landing plans.

"Artemis" is a new moon landing program announced by the US government in 2019. On November 16, 2022, the "Orion" spacecraft carrying out the "Artemis 1" unmanned lunar flight test mission took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the new generation of U.S. lunar landing rocket "Space Launch System". This is the first step in a series of U.S. lunar exploration missions.

NASA originally planned to complete the Alchemist-2 moon-round mission in 2024 and the Alchemist-3 moon landing mission by the end of 2025.But NASA has repeatedly announced delays since the Alchemist-1 mission.In early 2024, NASA announced that it would postpone the execution of the two missions to September 2025 and September 2026.

In December 2024, NASA postponed the Archaeoptery II and Archaeoptery III missions again to April 2026 and mid-2027, respectively.NASA said at the time that the decision was made after an investigation into the isolation mask of the "Lion" spacecraft. The adjusted timetable of the mission allowed more time to address the environmental control and life support systems of the "Lion" spacecraft.

The moon plan is difficult.

There is a widespread belief that the main reason for the repeated delays in the moon landing plan is due to technical issues, and the negative impact of NASA¡¯s heavy reliance on outsourcing on the program cannot be underestimated.

The Alchemist plan tends to allow private enterprises to dominate key design and operations, while NASA is responsible for coordinating and pushing forward, thereby significantly reducing costs. The original intention of doing so is to save public funds, with the risk of private enterprises stopping projects in order to improve work efficiency.

The spacecraft that performed all phases of the "Alchemist" program came from several companies: the "Lion" spacecraft was built by NASA in collaboration with Lockheed-Martin; the heavy rocket "Space Launch System" was developed by NASA in collaboration with Boeing; and the "Star" and the lunar lander "Human Landing System" were developed by Space Exploration Technology Corporation.

Project-related review reports showed that at least eight of the 13 key issues of the "Alchemist" plan have been seriously delayed from planning.In addition to the "Lion" spacecraft has technical design defects such as insulation masks, life support systems, spacecraft escape systems, the "spacecraft launch system" responsible for sending it into orbit is also suffering from delayed development progress and high costs, and is likely to be replaced by the "star" in the future.

However, for the space exploration technology company developing the "Starship", a large amount of complex technical research and development needs to be completed before it is possible to implement the "Artemis" program, including the development of on-orbit propellant storage and transportation capabilities. The first few test flights of "Starship" this year all failed, and it was not until August that it completed its tenth test flight, but industry insiders pointed out that there is still some room for improvement.

Another "difficulty" that has been delayed again and again lies in the development of extravehicular spacesuits. The extravehicular spacesuits used by American astronauts on the International Space Station today were developed by NASA more than 40 years ago. Axiom Space, Inc, who is responsible for developing a new generation of extravehicular spacesuits, said that the original design of NASA's spacesuits did not provide the emergency life support system required to carry out the "Artemis 3" mission and had to be redesigned.

Some experts pointed out that even if the manned mission around the moon is successful, it will be difficult to complete the manned mission to the moon before mid-2027. The "Starship" spacecraft it relies on is still a long way from even achieving orbit around the earth. Not to mention sending people to the moon. (Reporter: Dong Yalei, Wu Xiaoling, Tan Jingjing)