NASA Aims for a Moon Base!

As four astronauts prepared for the launch of their Artemis II mission toward the moon, the head of NASA announced some big changes and a big budget for its ambitious LUNAR plans.  

The American space agency initially planned several missions to build a space station that would orbit the moon. Instead, according to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, the agency will construct a base on the surface of the moon!

It’s been more than 50 years since astronauts last walked on the moon (the Apollo 17 mission back in 1972). The Artemis II mission was intended more as an early test flight for the astronauts—a flyby of the moon.

The base, located near the South Pole of the moon, will have many different components to it. Since the moon lacks an atmosphere with breathable air, the base will have habitats that provide air, heat and electricity. The base will be powered by a nuclear plant.

“This revised, step-by-step approach to learn, to build muscle memory, to bring down risk and gain confidence is exactly how NASA achieved the near impossible (landing the first humans on the moon),” Isaacman said in his March 24 speech. He also announced a $20 billion, 7-year budget for building the moon base. This may sound like a big budget, but the moon is an average distance of 238,855 miles from Earth, so manned and unmanned deliveries sent by rocket will be expensive. Isaacman says that crews will land at the lunar base every six months!

NASA hopes to land its first astronauts by 2028. “The goal is not (just leaving) flags and footprints, the administrator said. “This time, the goal is to stay.” The effort to live on the moon is a stepping stone to humans landing on Mars!