Artemis
Australia to cooperate with NASA on lunar exploration
NASA signed an agreement with its Australian counterpart Sept. 21 to cooperate on NASA’s Artemis program as Australia seeks to further boost its space industry.
House members skeptical about NASA’s approach to returning humans to the moon
Members of a House committee expressed skepticism about NASA’s reliance on commercial launch vehicles to carry out human lunar landings by 2024 rather than an upgraded version of the Space Launch System.
House stopgap funding bill includes no extra NASA funding
A House version of a stopgap spending bill does not include any special provisions for NASA, which threatens to delay work on lunar landers needed for the agency to achieve its goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2024.
NASA cubesat to test lunar Gateway orbit
NASA has awarded a contract to a small business for the development of a cubesat designed to demonstrate the use of the unique orbit planned for the agency’s lunar Gateway.
Lunar exploration providing new impetus for space resources legal debate
Efforts by space agencies and companies to send missions to the moon and use water ice and other resources there have renewed debate about the international legal regime regarding such resources.
Safety panel pleased with Artemis project but concerned about leadership
Members of a NASA safety panel praised the agency for moving ahead quickly with aspects of its Artemis program to return humans to the moon, but warned about perceptions of a leadership vacuum for that effort.
NASA refines plans for Artemis lunar lander
NASA has updated a draft solicitation for crewed lunar landers, adjusting details about how it plans to procure landers to meet the agency’s goal of landing humans on the moon by 2024.
Op-ed | How Women’s Equality Day looks from space
NASA astronaut Christina Koch reflects on Women’s Equality Day and her work on the International Space Station as she reaches the halfway point in her mission on the station.
Space Council recommendations address exploration and management concerns
Despite a strong public endorsement of NASA’s efforts to return humans to the moon as a step towards Mars, a series of recommendations approved by the National Space Council Aug. 20 highlight concerns about the agency’s plans to do so.
Space Council says NASA’s exploration programs “on track”
Nearly five months after directing NASA to accelerate its plans to return humans to the surface of the moon, Vice President Mike Pence said Aug. 20 that the agency’s efforts since then were “on track.”
How NASA’s return to the moon will be different from its first journeys there
NASA’s renewed effort to return humans to the moon draws inescapable parallels to Apollo a half-century ago.
Key House appropriator still skeptical of NASA’s lunar plans
The chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA said July 24 he’s not yet convinced of the need to accelerate a human return to the moon, citing the cost of doing so.
NASA outlines plans for lunar lander development through commercial partnerships
As NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first crewed landing on the moon, the agency released new details about how it will procure landers to enable humans to return to the moon in the 2020s.
Artemis cost estimate won’t be ready until 2020
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told a Senate committee July 17 that a cost estimate for landing humans on the moon by 2024 likely won’t be ready until the administration submits a budget request next February.
Op-ed | What will be different next time we go to the moon
Half a century after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first “small steps,” we’re going back with all the wonders of 21st century technology, but this time, things will be different.
Bridenstine says leadership changes linked to urgency in NASA’s exploration programs
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he reassigned the agency’s human spaceflight head, Bill Gerstenmaier, because time was limited to address cost and schedule issues with the agency’s key exploration programs and still meet a 2024 deadline for returning humans to the moon.
