Twelve astronauts walked on the moon during six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, the only spaceflights yet to place people on the lunar surface. “Even with this delay and increased budget, it is doubtful that NASA will be landing humans on the moon by 2025, but if all goes well, it could happen in the next few years,” Lori Garver, who served as NASA’s deputy administrator during the rocket’s conception, told Reuters. NASA’s Artemis program, named for the goddess who was Apollo’s twin sister in ancient Greek mythology, aims to return astronauts to the moon as early as 2025 and establish a long-term lunar colony as a steppingstone to even-more-ambitious future voyages sending people to Mars. Among the greatest financial beneficiaries are the principal SLS and Orion contractors – Boeing Co BA.N and Lockheed Martin Corp LMT.N, respectively. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has called the Artemis program an “economic engine,” noting that in 2019 alone, for example, it generated $14 billion in commerce and supported 70,000 American jobs.Ĭongress has steadily increased NASA’s budget to include funds for Artemis. More than a decade in development with years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns, the SLS-Orion spacecraft so far has cost NASA at least $37 billion, including design, construction, testing and ground facilities.
The SLS represents the biggest new vertical launch system NASA has built since the Saturn V rockets flown during its Apollo moon program of the 1960s and 1970s. The journey is intended to put the SLS vehicle, considered the world’s most complex and powerful rocketship, through a rigorous stress test of its systems during an actual flight before it is deemed ready to carry astronauts. “We are go for launch,” NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, a former space shuttle pilot and commander, told a news briefing late on Monday following the mission’s flight readiness review.