NASA announced that it will send the first woman ever, and first man in five decades, to the Moon in a mission codenamed ‘Artemis’ by 2024.
“I think it is very beautiful that 50 years after Apollo, the Artemis program will carry the next man and the first woman to the Moon,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said. “I have a daughter who is 11 years old, and I want her to be able to see herself in the same role as the next women that go to the Moon.”
“The first woman will be an American on the surface of the Moon in five years,” Bridenstine said in April. All 12 people who have walked on the lunar surface have been American men.
Some poked fun at the apparent lack of originality with the “Greek pantheon” naming convention for NASA’s missions, but the majority of commenters online applauded the announcement
US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would be adding $1.6 billion to NASA’s budget so that the US could “return to Space in a BIG WAY!”
The new lunar mission’s codename is Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Moon and the twin sister of Apollo. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission successfully landed the first humans on the Moon.
The actual Artemis program also has a long way to go, as it will require all new hardware for the lunar landers in addition to major testing of the new crew capsule for the mission.