US Artemis Manned Lunar Landing To Be Years Late, Cost $93Bln - Report

The Artemis Program to return US astronauts to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century will be years behind schedule and cost a massive $93 billion, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2021) The Artemis Program to return US astronauts to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century will be years behind schedule and cost a massive $93 billion, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said on Monday.

"Given the time needed to develop and fully test the HLS (Human Landing System) and new spacesuits, we project NASA will exceed its current timetable for landing humans on the Moon in late 2024 by several years," the report, dubbed "NASA's Management of the Artemis Missions," said.

NASA is projected to spend $93 billion on the Artemis effort up to Fiscal Year 2025, the report said.

The agency's three initial Artemis missions face varying degrees of technical difficulties and delays heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and weather events that will further delay launch schedules, the report also said.

"With Artemis I mission elements now being integrated and tested at Kennedy Space Center, we estimate NASA will be ready to launch by summer 2022 rather than November 2021 as planned. Although Artemis II is scheduled to launch in late 2023, we project that it will be delayed until at least mid-2024," the report added.

In addition, NASA lacks a comprehensive and accurate cost estimate that accounts for all Artemis program costs, according to the report.