NASA announced on Wednesday that plans to send the first manned space flight scheduled for 2021 is no longer feasible. The date has been moved to 2023 to allow further preparations.

Space Flight Now reported that NASA officials have determined the dangers are simply to great to ignore if it will stick to the 2021 launch schedule. Delaying the manned flight by at least two years will ensure that the Orion space vehicle will be ready by then.

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One of the NASA Administrators Robert Lightfoot said they are still aiming for the original schedule but vowed that even with delays, the Orion spacecraft will carry a human payload before the end of April in 2023.

NASA plans to launch a space vehicle loaded with at least four people to travel in outer space for at least three weeks.

The American space agency is scheduled to launch an Orion space vehicle without any human astronaut before the end of 2019.

The Orion spacecraft project will need at least around $7 billion more in order to make the 2023 manned space flight possible. Total costs of the ambitious space program is certain to reach almost $18 billion.

Government inspectors, however, are questioning the wisdom of the space agency's intention to use the space craft repeatedly, the computer software that will be used and how it determines the structural integrity of the space vehicles.

The Orion space vehicles designed to carry humans will be built and delivered to NASA by Lockheed Martin.

The heat shield of the new space craft has been redesigned. It is no longer one big block but composed of several pieces. The new heat shield will take less time to make and install in contrast to one single block.

NASA only has to negotiate with various American and foreign suppliers parts and installment procedures.

The first human deep space flight will simply check if all the space craft's systems are working. The second flight will make an extensive test of the various life support system installed in the space craft that controls the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Some lawmakers like Texas representative Lamar Smith have criticized the government for not giving enough priority for the space project, according to Space.