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OPINION:
Americans are going back to the moon. The 50 long years since human beings last set foot on Earth’s lonely companion could be called a cautious pause, but its end isn’t coming a moment too soon. That’s because Americans get antsy when forced to sit still like a turtle on a log. Thankfully, the nation that owes its existence to a passion for exploration is turning its attention skyward once again. It’s past time to tank up and take off.
Artemis I is the first phase in NASA’s plan for a return manned mission to the moon. Currently standing at the ready on its Cape Canaveral launch pad is the new Space Launch System rocket with the Orion spacecraft perched atop, tentatively scheduled for liftoff on Aug. 29. It’s a practice run loaded with mannequins to test safety before taking aboard live astronauts. SLS boosters are set to push the capsule into earth orbit, then upper-stage thrusters kick in to send Orion toward the moon, 280,000 miles away, on a round trip expected to last about six weeks.
Artemis II is planned for 2024 as a flight that will put a four-person Orion crew into orbit around the lunar poles. And Artemis III is slated for 2025 to rendezvous with Elon Musk’s SpaceX lunar landing craft for a descent to the surface and a long-anticipated visit and walkabout.
Two generations of Americans have never experienced the awe-inspiring spectacle that today’s grandparents witnessed in their youth. Then, spacemen with names are carved in milestone memory, stepped, jumped and skipped over virgin lunar soil. It’s time for the next generation to share in the thrill virtually and, for some, in reality.
Additional spacefaring steps include a lunar-orbiting way station called Gateway, from which a steady stream of astronauts are to rocket down to the surface and over time, construct the Artemis Base Camp. All are intended to polish the expertise required for an even more ambitious goal: human beings setting foot on Mars by the 2040s.
NASA Inspector General Paul Martin has flashed the U.S. Congress a hefty Artemis price tag of $53 billion through fiscal 2025. Given that lawmakers have just sunk $739 billion into Democrats’ “green” energy dreamscape and that hundreds of billions of COVID-19 relief funds wound up in the pockets of fraudsters, money spent prepping a new human habitat doesn’t seem so frivolous.
Moreover, if Americans dawdle too long over the challenges of venturing back into space, they may be chagrined to watch Chinese astronauts wave goodbye as they head for the moon. China’s National Space Administration is set on building a scientific research station at the moon’s south pole by the end of the decade. If their designs on Taiwan are any indication, the Chinese are well-acquainted with the meaning of “possession is nine-tenths of the law.”
Cradles are comfy, but humanity isn’t meant to languish forever in its place of birth. Posterity will either damn this age for taking after the turtle or praise it for challenging the limits. The outbound option should be an easy choice for Americans.
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