New launch date for Nasa moon mission announced after series of setbacks

• NASA has set a new target launch date of April 1 for its Artemis II mission, marking humanity's first trip to the Moon in over 50 years.
• However, the space agency has only a handful of days in early April to launch before standing down until April 30 into early May.
• The mission has suffered a series of delays due to fuel leaks and a helium-flow issue with the Space Launch System rocket, requiring repairs.
• NASA's administrator, Jared Isaacman, has announced an overhaul of the Artemis program, adding an extra practice flight (now Artemis III) and shifting the crewed Moon landing to Artemis IV, targeting 2028.
• SpaceX and Blue Origin are accelerating work on lunar landers to meet the 2028 target, though technical challenges, such as in-orbit refueling, remain.

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Nasa sets new launch date for Artemis Moon mission