Brooks said he was concerned that Starship would not be ready for the proposed 2025 crewed lunar landing, and that this would delay humankind's return to the Moon.

True: no crewed lunar landing (Artemis III or another landing) took place in 2025, and NASA, GAO or NASA OIG documents say that Starship Human Landing System (HLS) readiness was a reason, in whole or in part, for the landing slipping past 2025. Mostly true: no landing took place in 2025 and Starship HLS was not ready (e.g. had not done its required uncrewed demo landing or orbital propellant transfer), but official accounts give other factors (spacesuits, Orion, SLS, budget) as the main cause of the delay. Mostly false: the landing slipped past 2025 and official accounts attribute it entirely to other factors, with Starship described as on track. False: astronauts landed on the Moon using Starship in 2025.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 NASA's Management of the Human Landing System Contracts NASA Office of Inspector General · 10 March 2026

   “Then in December 2024, NASA announced that it would push the launch date for Artemis III to no later than June 2027, effectively extending Starship’s delivery time frame by an additional 9 months.”

2. E2 NASA's Management of the Human Landing System Contracts NASA Office of Inspector General · 10 March 2026

   “In fall 2025, SpaceX notified the HLS Program that they would potentially not be able to meet the Artemis III planned launch date of June 2027.”

3. E3 NASA's Management of the Human Landing System Contracts NASA Office of Inspector General · 10 March 2026

   “As discussed earlier, cost increases to the SpaceX contract have been driven in part by interface requirements changes from the other Artemis systems.”

4. E4 SpaceX to Tell NASA the Moon Will Have to Wait Gizmodo · 17 November 2025

   “SpaceX has fallen behind in developing a crewed lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, prompting the agency to reopen the contract to other providers.”

The NASA OIG report says that in December 2024 NASA moved Artemis III to no later than June 2027, so no crewed lunar landing took place in 2025 (E1). The same report says SpaceX told the HLS Program in fall 2025 that it might not meet even the June 2027 date (E2), and Gizmodo reported in November 2025 that SpaceX had fallen behind on the Artemis 3 lander (E4). Together these show Starship HLS was not ready in 2025. However, none of the quoted official passages names Starship readiness as a reason the landing slipped past 2025: E1 only describes the delay as giving Starship more time. That fits "mostly true" rather than "true."