It has been nearly 50 years since mankind has walked on the moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong broke the barriers of space for the first time in 1969. Following the success of Apollo 11, there were six more trips to the moon which ended with Gene Cernan in 1972.
Why did we stop going? Because of the astronomical price tag. The government of JFK had estimated it would take $7 billion dollars to get to the moon. The total cost ended up at nearly $10 billion in 1960’s money.
Instead NASA focused on sending men (and soon women) to space, but closer to home. NASA worked on the ISS and Skylab.
What are the Artemis Missions?
NASA announced the Artemis missions in 2017. But the development of the Orion crew capsule and SLS began in 2011. The first aim of the Artemis Missions is to return mankind to the moon for the first time since 1972. With Artemis, the first women will walk on the moon, and so will the first person of colour.
Artemis 1, 2, and 3 have the aim to return mankind to the moon. The missions after are be aimed at deeper space exploration. Possibly manned explorations of Mars, and a permanent lunar base.
The Artemis 1 mission, will be an uncrewed, 25 day mission. It will travel over 40,000 to the moon and beyond to demonstrate the performance of the SLS rocket.
Artemis 2, is now schedule for 2024. Four astronauts will be sent to the lunar environment. Artemis 2’s mission will orbit the moon and prepare for moon landings with Artemis 3.
What is the problem with the Artemis missions?
The only problem with the missions is the price tag. The Orion module has been tested successfully and NASA has a large class of astronauts that are eager to return to the moon.
At a hearing of the House of Representatives Space and Aeronautics subcommittee, it was announced that a single Artemis mission could cost 4.1 billion dollars per mission. That is an unsustainable price tag.
The program will cost an astronomical $93 billion. 40 billion dollars have been spent already. And that is before the flight of the SLS rocket. This price tag for moon exploration throws into question the future of the Space Launch System (SLS).
Space X’s starship launch vehicle comes in at 1/40th of the price tag. It is under development and is scheduled to be tested in an un-crewed mission around the earth sometime this year. Like with many of the Space X rockets, the starship is a reusable methalox staged-combustion engine.
NASA has become reliant on Space X to ferry its astronauts to the ISS since it retired its space shuttles between 2011 and 2012.
With the price tag so high for a single mission, it seems as if private companies like Space X are the viable way to go for further space exploration.
Will NASA astronauts be the first to walk on the moon in 50 years? Or will it be the private astronauts from Space X who will be back first?
I guess we will find out sooner rather than later.
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