NASA is cancelling the "Gateway," which mandated that journeys to the Moon would have to make a complex rendezvous to the gateway, then use a three-stage lander to do a complex landing. Returns would have to adhere to a seven-day return window, making emergency returns impossible.
Thank God it's cancelled, or at least postponed!
The gateway was initiated as an Obama boondoggle to pretend we were returning to the moon while never landing, and I always called it "spectator seating to watch China colonize the moon," and recommended to White House officials in early 2017 that they must scrap or delay it, and to return to the Moon by 2024.
At last, it's off the books for the 2024 landing. This increases the chances of actually landing the first woman and next man on the moon by '24, and using far safer and simpler rendezvous. Go Artemis!
The contract awards for landers had been delayed before this announcement, and now bidders can design far simpler, cheaper and safer systems that can be built more quickly. Because the gateway is off the books for the 2024 landing, it is essentially dead, as the landers will now be designed for more direct Apollo-like missions.
This is one more bold step that NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is taking to assure that we can return American astronauts to the Moon by 2024, and to establish a permanent base by 2028. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment