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In 2019, Vice President Mike Pence laid out plans for NASA to bring astronauts back to the moon by 2024.
Now a new report says the space agency will “struggle” to do so.
A report from the Office of the Inspector General of NASA notes that the 2024 schedule for the Artemis Moon mission is too ambitious, citing concerns about funding, scope and timing.
“Given the multiple challenges described above, we believe the agency will struggle to land astronauts on the moon by the end of 2024,” the report said. “At the very least, reaching a date close to this ambitious goal – and reaching Mars in the 2030s – will require strong, consistent and sustained leadership from the President, Congress and NASA, as well as stable funding. and timely.
Illustration of Artemis astronauts on the moon. (Credit: NASA)
NASA DETAILS HOW $ 28B WILL BE SPENDED TO BRING ASTRONAUTS TO THE MOON IN 2024
“Over the past decade, our monitoring work has shown that NASA consistently struggles to resolve each of these important issues and the accelerated schedule of the Artemis mission will likely make these challenges even worse,” the report adds.
The results cited specific issues with the space launch system rocket, as well as the Orion crew capsule, both of which had their development “delayed or suspended” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In March, Fox News reported that the pandemic could slow down NASA’s planned return to the moon. To date, COVID-19 has infected more than 11 million Americans and caused more than 250,000 deaths
The report also noted that NASA is expected to receive much less money to start developing a lunar lander.
In September, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said the $ 28 billion the agency requested was needed for the Artemis Moon program.
Of the money NASA is asking for, $ 7.6 billion is for space launch system rockets. Some $ 16.2 billion is for the “initial human landing system,” which includes the development, testing and launch of the new lunar landers.
NASA WANTS CORPORATE HELP TO DOCUMENT ITS RETURN TO THE MOON
In January, Congressman Kendra Horn, D-Okla., Proposed a bill urging NASA to consider a 2028 deadline for returning U.S. astronauts to the moon to bolster the long-term plans of the crewed space agency for the exploration of Mars.
The Artemis program, the successor to the Apollo program, is notable for a number of reasons, including its goals to send the first woman to land on the lunar surface and to establish a lasting human presence on Earth’s natural satellite. .
To date, only 12 people, all of them Americans, have landed on the moon. The last NASA astronaut to set foot on the moon was Apollo 17 mission commander Gene Cernan on December 14, 1972.
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