Press enter or click to view image in full sizePhoto by nader saremi on UnsplashLet’s hope so.
I, along with many others with an engineering background, have been deeply infuriated watching NASA bet the entire future of the Artemis lunar program on SpaceX’s Starship. It never made any sense. It was like they took Musk’s propaganda hook, line, and sinker and refused to engage a single brain cell’s worth of critical thinking. Even when it became crystal clear that Starship was a million miles away from being close to ready, NASA stood by its favourite ketamine billionaire. It’s almost like SpaceX has corrupted NASA’s administration (…and, yeah, they more or less have). But brainwashing and corruption aren’t a permanent solution. They wear off as soon as reality starts hitting home, and it looks like NASA have just realised the gargantuan mistake they have made.
This all revolves around the 2027 Artemis III mission, which plans to land astronauts on the Lunar surface for the first time in 55 years.
It is a rather complex mission. NASA’s SLS rocket will launch a crew of four on board NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Orion will then enter NHRO, a kind of distant lunar orbit. Then, a private lunar lander will rendezvous with Orion and take two of the crew down to the lunar south pole. The lander will then bring them back to Orion, and the crew will land safely back on Earth on board Orion.