NASA officials declined to provide specific risk assessments for the upcoming Artemis II mission, the first crewed lunar flight since 1972. They cited the mission's extreme novelty and limited flight data from the untested SLS/Orion system as reasons for avoiding quantitative risk estimates. The mission represents a significant technical challenge as it will travel 1,000 times farther than the ISS with a spacecraft that has only flown once before.
Background
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, using the new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that have only completed one uncrewed test flight.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Mar 14, 2026 at 08:17 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10