Video: Orion flight preps

The maiden flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, a heavy-lift human-rated rocket and one of the agency’s core programs, will likely not be ready for takeoff until 2020, officials said recently.

The Trump administration is proposing $19.1 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2018 budget blueprint, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2017 funding levels, focusing on deep space exploration, both human and robotic, and increased public-private partnerships to lower costs and encourage private sector innovation.

NASA announced new delays for the Artemis Moon program at a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Artemis 2 mission to circle the Moon is now scheduled for 2026 and the first lunar landing is delayed to 2027.