NASA’s Moon Mission is Delayed: The Kiplinger Letter

published 20 December 2023

To help you understand what is going on with NASA’s space exploration and what we expect to happen in the future, our highly experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe). You'll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Here’s the latest…

It’s all but certain that NASA’s crewed moon mission will be delayed past 2025, the current official planned date for Artemis III. This would be the first human mission to the moon in 50 years. The Government Accountability Office recently reported that challenges with the lunar lander and space suits could push the mission to 2027.

But don’t overlook the other moon landings next year. Three U.S. companies will be busy delivering payloads for NASA in 2024. Astrobotic is delivering a VIPER — a rover equipped with a 1-meter drill and other tools — to look for ice and other resources.

NASA is landing other payloads, too. A suite of them is coming from Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines to measure magnetic anomalies, test radiation and much more. By one count, U.S. companies are scheduled for six lunar lander missions, per NASA.

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Meanwhile, China’s Chang’e-6 will attempt to collect material from the far side of the moon in 2024 with a lander that scoops up 2,000 grams of material and shoots the canister back into orbit to dock with a spacecraft. All told, 2024 is poised for plenty of moon activity.

This forecast first appeared in The Kiplinger Letter, which has been running since 1923 and is a collection of concise weekly forecasts on business and economic trends, as well as what to expect from Washington, to help you understand what’s coming up to make the most of your investments and your money. Subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.

John Miley is a Senior Associate Editor at The Kiplinger Letter. He mainly covers technology, telecom and education, but will jump on other important business topics as needed. In his role, he provides timely forecasts about emerging technologies, business trends and government regulations. He also edits stories for the weekly publication and has written and edited e-mail newsletters.

He joined Kiplinger in August 2010 as a reporter for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, where he wrote stories, fact-checked articles and researched investing data. After two years at the magazine, he moved to the Letter, where he has been for the last decade. He holds a BA from Bates College and a master’s degree in magazine journalism from Northwestern University, where he specialized in business reporting. An avid runner and a former decathlete, he has written about fitness and competed in triathlons.