We will have to wait a few more years before we see a man walk on the Moon again. NASA announced Thursday, December 5, to once again postpone the long-awaited return of its astronauts to the star, from 2026 to « mi-2027 » due in particular to technical problems encountered on the vessel carrying the crew.
The American agency must accelerate if it wants to maintain its lead in this new race, because the Chinese lunar program is progressing rapidly. India, Japan, Europe: many now have the Moon in their sights.
► The Artemis program, aiming for the Moon to go to Mars
Announced in 2017, the flagship American Artemis program aims to establish a lasting presence on the Moon and prepare the ground for future missions to Mars. After several postponements, it was inaugurated in 2022 with the Artemis 1 mission, which successfully flew the Orion spacecraft around the Moon, in order to test it without a crew.
The American giant and the twenty partner countries of Artémis (including Canada, France, Saudi Arabia and Mexico) have already spent nearly 90 billion euros on this program. Japan, via the JAXA agency, is participating and aims to send its astronauts to the Moon during the first manned mission.
The Artemis 2 mission, during which astronauts must travel around the Moon without landing there, is now scheduled for April 2026. It was previously planned for September 2025. Artemis III scheduled for 2027 will be the first mission where astronauts, including the first woman and a person from a minority will walk on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
► Russia slows down, China takes off
China and Russia hope to launch their first manned mission to the Moon by 2030 and also plan to build a lunar base and even a nuclear power plant. This Sino-Russian program has been joined by Pakistan, Venezuela and even South Africa.
Unlike Russia, China entered the space race late. Direct competitor of the United States for several years, the Middle Kingdom has caught up with billions of dollars. The Russian lunar program, for its part, has slowed down significantly since the war in Ukraine.
These investments paid off, and in 2019 China became the first country to place a probe on the far side of the Moon. It also built its own orbital station called Tiangong or ” Heavenly Palace » in 2022.
At the end of October, China sent three astronauts into space whose mission will be, among other things, to carry out tests on bricks made from components imitating lunar soil and intended to build habitats on the Moon.
Three Chinese astronauts, including the country’s only woman spaceflight engineer, have blasted off on a “dream” mission to the Tiangong space stationhttps://t.co/cuJoMnuBeFpic.twitter.com/8ffnk5jcNc
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 30, 2024
► India, an unexpected space power
Twenty years to catch up with its competitors and send a man to the Moon. It is an ambitious project from India which recently joined the ranks of space powers.
India is knocking on the door of the very exclusive club of countries capable of sending astronauts to the Moon by 2040. A few months ago it managed to land one of these machines on the star, becoming the fourth nation to do so after Russia, the United States and China.
The country’s ambition is to put its own space station into orbit by 2035. Before the ultimate challenge, establishing an inhabited lunar base by 2040.