A NASA member leaves the government several weeks after his appointment to lead the 2024 landing plan

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – A senior NASA executive hired in April to guide the astronauts' return strategy on the Moon by 2024 has resigned, the US Space Agency announced on Thursday, culminating point internal struggles and declining congressional support for the lunar initiative.

Mark Sirangelo, appointed six weeks ago as NASA's special assistant director, Jim Bridenstine, left the agency after NASA abandoned its reorganization plan due to A cold reception on Capitol Hill, said Bridenstine in a statement.

Two people close to the space program and familiar with the situation said that Sirangelo was escorted out of NASA headquarters in Washington on Wednesday after his resignation.

His departure came after legislators rejected NASA's proposal to create a separate branch within the space agency to oversee future lunar missions and develop human exploration of Mars.

"The proposal has not been accepted for the moment, so let's go ahead with our current organizational structure," Bridenstine said. "As NASA no longer pursues the new direction of the mission, Mark has chosen to pursue other opportunities."

Last week, the Trump administration asked Congress to increase NASA's spending by $ 1.6 billion next year, which was a "down payment" on the accelerated goal of bringing Americans back on the Moon by 2024, more than half a century after the end of the American lunar Apollo. program.

The latest initiative was christened Artemis, after the goddess of the hunt and the moon in Greek mythology and the twin sister of Apollo.

NASA 's goal was to return the crewed space shuttle to the lunar surface by 2028, after placing a "Gateway" station on the lunar orbit by 2024. However, the prospect of Additional funding generated little enthusiasm on the part of parliamentarians.

The two people familiar with the case said that Sirangelo's ouster had been sealed by growing skepticism that 2024 was a realistic deadline for the moon's landings.

In his statement, Bridenstine said that the agency was still studying the organizational changes needed "to maximize efficiency and achieve the ultimate goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon." from here 2024 ".

"If the $ 1.6 billion does not materialize, we will fall back on the previous plan, which was to land in 2028," NASA's chief said at a press conference earlier in the day.

NASA announced earlier Thursday that it had chosen space technology company Maxar Technologies Inc. as the first contractor to help build the "Gateway" outpost.