NASA's space system that will take astronauts into deep space and possibly to Mars is not ready for 2018, according to a federal watchdog agency.

  • GAO report says NASA needs to alert Congress if SLS rocket not ready for 2018
  • GAO says target date for SLS launch looking unachievable
  • NASA agrees, will release new launch date by Sept. 30
  • RELATED: Read the FULL GAO report and NASA response (PDF)

In response to the report by the General Accounting Office, a senior NASA official says the agency is working on a new target launch date for 2019, which should be released by this fall.

NASA is developing the Orion crew vehicle and the Space Launch System, a heavy lift rocket, for a first launch in November 2018.

In the report, the GAO said technical challenges with the Orion crew vehicle, the Space Launch System and the Exploration Ground Systems programs are draining the agency's ability to stay on target with the launch.

The GAO said NASA's projects were "generally better positioned for success than past crewed vehicle efforts."

However, each program has its own challenges, and problems with one aspect of a project causes schedules delays for other aspects. 

"All three programs face development challenges in completing the work, and each has little to no schedule reserve remaining to the EM-1 date, meaning they will have to complete all remaining work with minimal delay during the most challenging stage of development," the GAO report concluded.

The GAO said NASA needed to be realistic with Congress as it works on 2018 budget requests, otherwise both NASA and Congress will be making decisions based on unachievable schedules and an unclear picture.

In response, Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said the agency agrees that "maintaining a November 2018 launch readiness date is not in the best interest of the program, and we are in the process of establishing a new target in 2019."

The response is at the bottom of the GAO report.

Gerstenmaier also said that specific concerns the GAO mentioned in its report are no longer concerns, but new ones have appeared. 

Gerstenmaier said NASA's schedule assessment has to include a number of ongoing activities, including President Donald Trump's request to look into whether NASA could fly a crew on that first mission, along with the impact of damage caused by a tornado last February at the SLS production facility at Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.

NASA will look to release a new target launch date by Sept. 30.