Science News Roundup: NASA delays astronaut moon landing to 2026 amid spacecraft 'challenges'; Fuel leak on Astrobotic's moon lander leaves 'no chance' of soft landing and more

There was 40 hours of fuel left on the lander that will allow it to operate "as a spacecraft" even as engineers determine what its new mission in orbit will be, the space robotics firm said. NASA delays astronaut moon landing to 2026 amid spacecraft 'challenges' NASA on Tuesday added more delays to its Artemis moon program, scheduling for 2026 its first astronaut lunar landing in half a century while spacecraft from Elon Musk's SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and other contractors face development challenges.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Fuel leak on Astrobotic's moon lander leaves 'no chance' of soft landing

Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander has "no chance" of a soft landing on the moon after springing a propellant leak in the first few hours of its journey in space, the company said on Tuesday about the first such U.S. attempt in five decades. There was 40 hours of fuel left on the lander that will allow it to operate "as a spacecraft" even as engineers determine what its new mission in orbit will be, the space robotics firm said.

NASA delays astronaut moon landing to 2026 amid spacecraft 'challenges'

NASA on Tuesday added more delays to its Artemis moon program, scheduling for 2026 its first astronaut lunar landing in half a century while spacecraft from Elon Musk's SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and other contractors face development challenges. The U.S. space agency's first two Artemis missions involving astronauts were each pushed back nearly a year in delays designed "to give the Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges," NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters in a news conference.

NASA to push back moon mission timelines amid spacecraft delays - sources

NASA is set to delay its next few missions to the moon under a key program as technical hurdles mount with the various spacecraft it intends to use to get there, according to four people familiar with NASA's plans. The U.S. space agency is expected to announce the plans on Tuesday after spending months tracking progress with contractors and considering changes to the Artemis program, a multi-billion dollar effort that includes returning the first astronauts to the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

Moon lander problem threatens mission after Vulcan rocket makes successful debut

A robotic lander built by a private company suffered a propulsion system issue on its way to the moon on Monday, upending the first U.S. soft lunar landing attempt in over 50 years as mission managers scrambled to fix its position in space. Space robotics firm Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander had launched successfully to space at 2:18 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard the first flight of Vulcan, a rocket that had been under development for a decade by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA).

(With inputs from agencies.)