The U.S. is committed to landing astronauts on the moon for the first time in a half-century and reaching Mars, but must get a handle on safety and cost before launching the next phase of its Artemis program, NASA told Congress on Wednesday.
Government officials testified that problems with the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield, plus other issues, are being fixed before next year’s planned launch of the Artemis II mission that will have astronauts circling the moon.
NASA recently delayed the launch from late 2024 to late 2025, forcing it to bump its Artemis III mission to the lunar surface from late 2025 to September 2026. Some experts believe the timeline for returning to the moon is unrealistic.
Yet Catherine Koerner, associate director for exploration systems at NASA, said the agency will use what it learns from the lunar-orbit mission to keep Artemis III on track before moving to the next frontier.
“While sending humans back to the moon will be a significant accomplishment, we do not intend to stop there,” she told the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. “NASA’s long-term goal is to send humans to Mars, and the moon will help us get there.”
Members of the committee said both parties support Artemis, particularly as Beijing flaunts its ambitions in space. But they hauled NASA and government watchdogs to Capitol Hill to ensure that billions in taxpayer funding is well-spent and that NASA keeps a safe and appropriate schedule.
“This committee has long directed NASA to return humans to the moon and eventually Mars,” said Rep. Frank Lucas, Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the subcommittee. “But this committee’s support of Artemis means asking detailed questions of NASA and providing oversight of the agency’s proposals. Congress must have proper insight in the agency’s planning and execution of this mission to ensure its success.”
The Biden administration is calling Artemis the most ambitious space exploration effort in generations.
An uncrewed Artemis I mission launched in November 2022 for a 25-day mission around the moon that tested systems for Artemis II.
As it stands, the program will unfold as follows, according to Ms. Koerner:
• The Artemis II project in September 2025 will send three American astronauts and a Canadian to travel around the moon, “the farthest humans have journeyed into space in more than 50 years.”
• Artemis III in September 2026 will send astronauts to the lunar south pole and begin building a long-term exploration program.
• Later, Artemis IV will establish a lunar base and orbiting system called Gateway.
Artemis is an avenue for global diplomacy. Multiple nations are involved in the technology behind the project, and Vice President Kamala Harris recently said NASA plans to bring an international astronaut along with American explorers to the moon.
Officials also said the mission will take the first woman and first person of color to the moon.
NASA has requested $38 billion over the next five years for the project, prompting lawmakers to take a closer look at its progress. An inspector general’s report last year found the Artemis system’s rocket booster and engine will cost $6 billion more than anticipated, due in part to complications in integrating new components with existing infrastructure.
Witnesses said NASA relied on unrealistic assumptions about costs, making it difficult to get correct estimates.
“Whether it’s workforce issues, whether it’s changing requirements on NASA’s part — all of those add into these eventual cost overruns that NASA experiences on some of these contracts. This is about accountability for holding the vendors responsible for what they’re promising,” said George A. Scott, acting inspector general at NASA.
Michael D. Griffin, co-president of the LogiQ consulting company, was blunt in assessing Artemis’ challenges.
“In my judgment, the Artemis program is excessively complex, unrealistically priced, compromises crew safety, poses very high mission risk of completion, and is highly unlikely to be completed in a timely manner even if successful,” he said. “This matters because our self-declared adversaries, the Chinese Communist Party together with their Russian partner, fully understand the role that being on the space frontier has in the world of global power politics. We seem no longer to understand that.”
China is launching robotic missions to the moon to explore the surface and take samples, and it has said it wants to land its astronauts on the moon by 2030.
Ms. Koerner said NASA has some mechanisms to hold vendors accountable, including withholding payment, and is confident the U.S. can beat the Chinese in the space realm.
“We believe … we will be on the surface of the moon before China is,” she said, “and it’s our intent for that to happen.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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