NASA had recently started a new project called Artemis II program, which they planned to send astronauts to the moon again in 2025. This project is considered the first priority of NASA. Still, according to a survey done by a non-profit organization Pew Research Center, Americans need clarification on NASA’s sequence of priority.
From this survey, we can conclude that compared to space exploration, Americans found it’s more important to take care of the problems the Earth is facing right now. The survey shows that 60 percent of Americans believe monitoring asteroids that have a chance to hit the Earth should be the top priority, and 50 percent said they should be monitoring climate change. Only 12 percent of Americans agree with returning to the moon, and 11 percent believe landing on Mars is the top priority.
The Artemis project seems to be pointless since American astronauts have walked on the moon several times in the past 54 years, and it costs an enormous amount of money for one trip. That’s taking the Apollo program, which is the program that sent the first group of astronauts to the Moon, as an example. The Apollo program cost 25.4 billion US dollars, which is about 152 billion in the present day. So why does NASA decide to return to the Moon after 50 years?
To answer the question, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson points out China is trying to send its astronauts to the Moon in 2030, and if they succeed, China will be the second country to achieve this. According to Nelson, he said that the United States is now in a space race with China, which intends to send astronauts to the moon by 2030.
This will bring a considerable challenge to the United States’ global authority. The United States is now forced to compete in a space race with China. The consequences of losing are not affordable for the world.
The situation is similar to the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and we know they are breaking apart now. Some experts say one of the main reasons is that they had put too much money into the space competition after the United States successfully landed on the Moon, and this caused the economy to break down. Nelson points out that America tries to stop China from taking advantage by winning the competition before China gets started.
From this survey, we can conclude that compared to space exploration, Americans found it’s more important to take care of the problems the Earth is facing right now. The survey shows that 60 percent of Americans believe monitoring asteroids that have a chance to hit the Earth should be the top priority, and 50 percent said they should be monitoring climate change. Only 12 percent of Americans agree with returning to the moon, and 11 percent believe landing on Mars is the top priority.
The Artemis project seems to be pointless since American astronauts have walked on the moon several times in the past 54 years, and it costs an enormous amount of money for one trip. That’s taking the Apollo program, which is the program that sent the first group of astronauts to the Moon, as an example. The Apollo program cost 25.4 billion US dollars, which is about 152 billion in the present day. So why does NASA decide to return to the Moon after 50 years?
To answer the question, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson points out China is trying to send its astronauts to the Moon in 2030, and if they succeed, China will be the second country to achieve this. According to Nelson, he said that the United States is now in a space race with China, which intends to send astronauts to the moon by 2030.
This will bring a considerable challenge to the United States’ global authority. The United States is now forced to compete in a space race with China. The consequences of losing are not affordable for the world.
The situation is similar to the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and we know they are breaking apart now. Some experts say one of the main reasons is that they had put too much money into the space competition after the United States successfully landed on the Moon, and this caused the economy to break down. Nelson points out that America tries to stop China from taking advantage by winning the competition before China gets started.
