Former NASA astronaut Jack Fisher explained to RIA Novosti the absence of Americans on the moon.
In his opinion, the United States is postponing sending people to the Earth's natural satellite due to the presence of other priorities.
"Our country has certain priorities that displace other things. Since the Moon is not a strategic priority to the same extent as others - especially in the context of a pandemic - they postpone it a bit," said the former astronaut.
In November Space.com Referring to the report of the Inspector General of the US Space Agency Paul Martin, it was reported that by 2025 NASA will spend $ 93 billion on the Artemis lunar program. The publication notes that the estimate of $ 93 billion covers the period of work carried out from 2012 to 2025 fiscal year. For comparison, from 1960 to 1973, the United States spent 280 billion dollars on the Apollo program (at the current exchange rate).
In October, NASA set February 12, 2022 as the closest launch date for SLS with Orion to the moon. As part of the Artemis 1 unmanned mission, the spacecraft must fly around the Earth's natural satellite. Depending on the relative position of the Moon and the Earth at the time of the rocket launch, the duration of the mission will be from three to six weeks.
Ivan Potapov
