Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2019

ASTRONAUTICS for the Moon and Mars (with their subsequent colonization), projects that promptly disappeared into thin air due to budget cuts, techni- cal unfeasibility, and other causes. In the current state of things, the most optimistic return to the Moon of a crew is scheduled for 2024 as part of the Artemis pro- gram, which initially proposes to send two astronauts to explore the lunar south pole, paving the way for a future sustainable stay in this region, hypothesized feasible since 2028. NASA’s administrator, Jim the 21 billion dollars already allo- cated. Evidently, the competition with the exuberant Chinese astro- nautics is providing the right stim- uli for a new space race. Bridenstine, illustrated the latest develop- ments of the Artemis program in person on May 23rd, following statements of the Pres- ident and the Vice President of the United States, about the will and need to return as soon as possible to trample the lunar soil, statements accompanied by the allocation to NASA of an extra budget of 1.6 billion dollars in fiscal year 2020 in addition to A POLLO 17 − In the above video, the farewell to the Moon: the last lift-off of a lunar module. Below, the LRV imaged during the second extravehicular activity (EVA) 2 of the Apollo 17 mission. [NASA, Project Apollo Archive] !