We can return to moon in ’24, but that’ll take money
When Vice President Mike Pence challenged NASA to advance the year of the next moon landing from 2028 to 2024, he had sound reasons for doing so. Returning Americans to the lunar surface would have a number of benefits for the United States and the world community that far outweigh its cost.
The potential for science goes without saying. Access to lunar resources would not only help spark a space-based industrial revolution but would also make deep space travel more sustainable by using lunar ice to make rocket fuel. Having America lead a coalition of international and commercial partners back to the moon would enhance its political influence, winning respect from allies and potential enemies alike.
Going back to the moon sooner rather than later will help to ensure that Project Artemis, as the effort was recently named, will not fall prey to the sort of space exploration ADD that has afflicted NASA for the past several decades, leading two previous back-to-the-moon efforts to be canceled. The accelerated pace will also focus the attention of NASA and commercial engineers. As Apollo taught us, there is nothing like a hard and fast deadline to ensure that the goal is achieved.
Obviously, the accelerated pace will require more funding. NASA requested an extra $1.6
billion for the 2020 fiscal year and will likely need quite a bit more for subsequent years.
Thus far, the House seems to be ignoring the need for extra money.
The Trump administration is thought to have made a political blunder by tapping surplus Pell Grant money to pay for extra funding for Artemis. Enrollment in the program has declined, which means that shifting the excess to space exploration will not cause students to lose aid. The political optics have become toxic. but they are nothing more than optics. The kerfuffle should not stop Americans from landing Americans on the moon in 2024.
Republicans and Democrats in the Texas congressional delegation used to stand united in support of NASA funding. To ensure that Americans, including the next man and the first woman, walk on the moon in five years, our delegation needs to do so again.
Sen. Ted Cruz is especially well placed to press for the additional funding necessary for a timely return to the moon.
The Texas members of the House, Republicans and Democrats, should work to make certain that the extra money is made available in the final appropriations bill.
Returning to the moon should not be a Republican or Democratic issue, but an American imperative.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The benefits of sending humans to the moon and returning them safely to the Earth are still with us. Neil Armstrong’s first footsteps brought pride to the United States in a turbulent decade when it surely needed it. By proving the superiority of the American culture of freedom and tolerance, Apollo contributed to the eventual Cold War victory over the Soviet Union.
The moon landing inspired a generation of young people, including current commercial space entrepreneurs such as SpaceX’s Elon Musk and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos. And decades later, the Apollo program is still yielding scientific discoveries as new tools, unimagined when the moon landings occurred, are used to examine geological samples the astronauts brought back.
Artemis has the potential to create a better future, something that all Americans could get behind. That future is one in which Americans lead the way to making humanity a multiworld species, accessing the wealth and knowledge that the high frontier has to offer.
All we have to do is to reach out and take it. The men and women Texas have sent to Washington have a crucial role in making that future happen Let us hope they have the will to do so.