Posted on 12/05/2024 2:37:22 PM PST by BenLurkin
NASA announced it is delaying Artemis II and III missions, meant to take American astronauts back to the moon, because of a problem with the capsule’s heat shield.
Artemis II, a mission to take astronauts around the moon, was moved from September 2025 to April of 2026. Artemis III would land astronauts on the south pole of the moon, and likely won’t happen until mid-2027, NASA said.
NASA decided to push the launch of Artemis II because they found cracks in the heat shield after the Artemis I mission in 2022. Artemis I flew around the moon with no astronauts on board.
Nelson said NASA found the root cause of the cracks in the heat shield and is comfortable that they’ve found a “path forward.”
Nelson also emphasized, the new timeline would put astronauts on the moon well before 2030, when China would like to land on the moon.
Nelson and Lucas said it’s vital the U.S. land on the south pole of the moon, first. Scientists believe they could find water at the south pole of the moon, which could allow astronauts to refuel and launch for Mars.
Nelson said, though, he didn’t know whether China plans to land on the south pole of the moon or the equator in 2023.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Put Elon Musk on it and the heat shield will be fixed in a month. Just kidding…but only sorta
Is this not becoming a credibility issue?
Musk and that DOGE ought to cut NASA manned flight to zero
nasa=need another spacecraft again...
I wonder how many white guys over age 50 were on that heat shield design team?
By the time NASA gets there Elon Musk will own it and charge them for rent.
NASA prostituted for climate change. Obama. That guy is such a cheap suit f-tard.
At this point, I would contend that SpaceX IS the U.S. space program. Without them, we would have nothing.
NASA has been destroyed by the woke communist revolution. It’s gonna take decades to fire all these clowns.
He would. Maybe not in a week, but at sprint speed compared to NASA, Boeing, or Amazon.
Well it's not like we haven't been building heat shields for the last for the last 70 years. But the DEI science and engineering performance goals have changed so we must delay all launches until we can fix the fundamental science to make it accommodate our delusions.
Launch costs are everything. Overnight, reusable rockets have turned the others into buggy-whip manufacturers for a huge segment of the market.
I had no idea you were such a racist. Next you’ll be demanding they have engineering degrees or something!
First item on DOGE list is to cancel NASA.
Elon Musk will have astronauts on Mars before NASA lands on the moon.
Just what I was thinking. Problem is NASA, like all government bureaucracies, is run to perpetuate the bureaucracy, not actually achieve things
Probably none. It’s not as exciting, as the submarine CEO said.
When I was at Boeing, people there did complain that we were becoming too expensive and pricing ourselves out of the market. Some people do get it, they just don’t get listened to.
He can’t go soon enough. The new guy knows his stuff. And loves SpaceX.
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