NASA plans to build a spacecraft outpost in the lunar orbit that can transmit astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024, part of a broader initiative to use the moon as a stage for future missions to Mars.
The president of the USA US, Donald Trump, criticized NASA on Friday for its goal of putting astronauts back on the moon in 2024 and urged the space agency to focus on "much bigger" initiatives like going to Mars, undermining its support previous to the lunar initiative.

"For all the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon, we did it 50 years ago," the president wrote on Twitter. "They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!"

Trump's statement, tweeted from Air Force One when he returned from Europe, seemed contrary to his administration's recent drive to return humans to the lunar surface by the year 2024 "by all means necessary", five years before the objective previous of 2028.

NASA plans to build a spacecraft outpost in the lunar orbit that can transmit astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024, part of a broader initiative to use the moon as a stage for future missions to Mars. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said Trump was only reaffirming NASA's space plan.

"As @POTUS said, @NASA is using the Moon to send humans to Mars," he said on Friday in a tweet referring to the President of the United States. The accelerated calendar to land humans on the moon by 2024 had early problems when the Trump administration asked a skeptical Congress in May to increase NASA's budget proposal for 2020 by $ 1.6 billion as a " initial payment "to adapt to the accelerated objective.

The accelerated calendar to go to the moon was a key recommendation in March of the new National Space Council led by Vice President Mike Pence.

'SUSTAINABLE HUMAN PRESENCE'

The NASA website on Friday said the Artemis program would send "the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024 and develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2028." The program takes its name from the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess De la luna in Greek mythology.

The NASA Apollo program got the first men on the moon 50 years ago on July 20.

The NASA website also provided details about the space agency's plans to make the moon a starting point for future missions to Mars and a place to test equipment and technology for other incursions into the solar system.

Trump's comments on the US manned space program UU They reflect their desire to defend a bold new national goal while preparing a reelection, while also trying to counter the potential space weapons capabilities of Russia and China.

Private companies are also joining the race for the moon.

Billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos unveiled a mock-up model of a lunar vehicle built by his Blue Origin rocket company last month and promoted its lunar targets as part of a strategy aimed at leveraging the Trump administration's drive to establish a lunar outpost in just five years. .