NASA plans to send the first woman to the moon in 2024 with the help from $1.6 billion funding increase in their budget from president Trump, the agency said this week.
The 2024 mission, called Artemis, after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo, will be the first mission to the moon in nearly five decades. In addition to sending a woman, NASA will also send one man.
“The last person walked on the Moon in 1972,” Bettina Inclán, NASA Communications Director, told CNN in a statement. “No woman has ever walked on the lunar surface.”
Trump announced his administration’s request for funding on his Twitter page on Monday.
“Under my Administration, we are restoring @NASA to greatness and we are going back to the Moon, then Mars,” he wrote.
“I am updating my budget to include an additional $1.6 billion so that we can return to Space in a BIG WAY!” he added.
The budget increase is on top of NASA’s initial request of $21 billion for the purposes of exploring the moon, and establishing a permanent presence on the moon by 2028.
“This investment is a down payment on NASA’s efforts and will allow us to move forward in design, development and exploration,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
Congress will still need approve the budget for it to go into effect, however. The White House sent a budget amendment to Congress on Monday evening, which included the plan to use the $1.9 billion in surplus Pell Grant money, a federally funded college tuition program, to fund other initiatives.
The budget office said that redirecting funds from the tuition program to NASA would not impact students.
“This does not cut any spending for Pell Grant programs as the budget continues to ensure all students will get their full Pell Grant and keeps the program on sound fiscal footing,” spokesman Wesley Denton said in a statement.
Source: Nypost
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