Can Trump Put NASA Astronauts on the Moon by 2024? It's Unlikely

[left-of-center2012]

The Trump administration announced an ambitious goal in March: It wants to send American astronauts back to the moon in just five years — four years earlier than the previous target of 2028.

Last week, the White House sought to add $1.6 billion to NASA’s budget for next year as a “down payment” for this accelerated push for the moon. The administration has proposed taking the $1.6 billion needed for 2020 from the Pell grant program, which provides financial help to low-income college students.

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And yet, the administrator of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, has not talked directly with President Donald J. Trump in the past couple of months about this goal. “Not on the 2024 agenda,” Mr. Bridenstine said in an interview last week when asked if they had discussed the new plan.

Although Mr. Trump signed a directive in December 2017 that set the moon as the next destination for NASA astronauts, he has barely talked about the moon publicly. At rallies, he has been more likely to tout the Space Force, a proposed new military branch.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/science/trump-moon-nasa.html

[dameatball]

1. "Ground control to Major Don" has a nice ring to it. Fire away!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. Yeah, because rushing the process worked so well for the Apollo 1 astronauts.

Also the Challenger astronauts. I'm still of the opinion that Challenger was launched against the warnings of engineers so Reagan could refer to the teacher in space during his SOTU speech, which would occur during the mission.

[keithbvadu2]

3. $1.6 billion that can be transferred to his phony national emergency wall.