By Jacob Mansfield
In a recent video NASA uploaded to Youtube, they announced their renewed and revitalized space program with a clear target: to travel back to the moon and land by 2024.
Ever since the Apollo missions of the late 1960s, we have steadily lost interest and funding for any further lunar exploration. Although the moon landing was the defining scientific achievement of the decade, perhaps even the century, NASA and its international counterparts suffered one budget cut after another as they mostly vanished from the fascination of the public eye.
Until now. Joined by billion-dollar private firms such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, spearheaded by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos respectively, NASA is reinvigorating the space race. With a state-of-the art Space Launch System and Orion space capsule currently in development, NASA plans to take off a mere five years from now, with the help of a recent 1.6 billion dollar funding announcement from President Trump.
He has kickstarted the entire ambitious deadline by demanding a moon landing in 2024 rather than in 2028 as originally planned, in what seems to be the latest declaration of American ingenuity and scientific progress.
Always forward-thinking, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has claimed that this project will “accelerate our mission to Mars” and “capture the imagination of the American public” as he unveiled the plan at the recent Space Symposium.
This will not only herald the technological progress of NASA, but also its inclusiveness : This mission will mark the first time a female astronaut has ever walked on the surface of the moon.
Renewed attention and excitement about further space exploration will have a definitive positive impact on the future of our species, as we gradually expand into our galactic backyard and start expanding our cosmic horizons.
