By Fnf correspondent | PUBLISHED: 05, Dec 2024, 17:21 pm IST | UPDATED: 05, Dec 2024, 17:21 pm IST
During Nelson's tenure, NASA picked up steam in its effort to return astronauts to the moon. This next-generation Apollo programme — named after Apollo's mythological twin sister Artemis — plans to send four astronauts around the moon as soon as next year. The first moon landing in more than half a century would follow.
NASA is counting on SpaceX to get astronauts to the lunar surface via Starship, the mega rocket launching out of Texas on test flights. The space agency already relies on SpaceX to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station along with supply runs. Boeing launched its first crew for NASA in June, but the Starliner capsule encountered so many problems that the two test pilots ended up stuck at the space station. They'll catch a ride home with SpaceX in February, after more than eight months in orbit. Their mission should have lasted eight days.
Also on NASA's plate right now: exploring the solar system. Robotic missions to the moon and beyond continues with a NASA spacecraft en route to Jupiter's watery moon Europa and the Mars rover Perseverance collecting more rock and dirt samples. Facing tight budgets, NASA is seeking a quicker, cheaper way of getting these Martian samples to Earth than the original plan, which had swollen to USD 11 billion with nothing arriving before 2040. As with human spaceflight, NASA has turned to industry and others for ideas and help.
The fighter jet-piloting Isaacman, whose call name is Rookie, has described himself as a “space geek” since kindergarten. He dropped out of high school when he was 16, got a GED certificate and started a business in his parents' basement that became the genesis for Shift4. His business is based in eastern Pennsylvania, where he lives with his wife and their two young daughters.
He set a speed record flying around the world in 2009 while raising money for the Make-A-Wish programme, and later established Draken International, the world's largest private fleet of fighter jets. Isaacman has reserved two more flights with SpaceX, including a trip leading Starship's first crew into orbit around Earth.
by : Priti Prakash
Imagine a nation that waits to be split apart as if to be shared amongst the winners as the spoils o...