"SpaceX wins contract to supply NASA's planned lunar space station" CBS News

""Returning to the moon and supporting future space exploration requires affordable delivery of significant amounts of cargo," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in the NASA statement. "SpaceX has been delivering scientific research and critical supplies to the (space station) since 2012, and we are honored to continue the work beyond Earth's orbit."

The Artemis program is aimed at returning astronauts to the lunar surface by the end of 2024, a target date set by the Trump administration. Astronaut crews will make the trip aboard Lockheed Martin-built Orion capsules launched to the moon by gargantuan Space Launch System — SLS — rockets being built by Boeing.

The first Artemis lunar landings are targeted for the moon's south polar region, where ice may be present in permanently shadowed craters. If found, ice could be used to generate water, air and oxygen-hydrogen rocket propellants, saving the cost of transportation from Earth. NASA bills the Artemis program as a stepping stone for eventual flights to Mars.

The 2024 moon landing target is considered an extreme challenge given the program's cost, technical demands and work slowdowns or stoppages caused by coronavirus, but NASA managers said they are pressing ahead and remain hopeful."  CBS News

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How many projects like this will survive the economic catastrophe shaping up is anyone's guess.  Trump is right.  We have to save lives but those lives may not be very pleasant for a while if we don't get the economy functioning again.  pl

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-wins-contract-to-supply-nasas-planned-lunar-space-station/

Comments

[Fred]

I suspect Trump is going to say enough already get back to work on Monday, get hounded by the press and the left one more time for his troubles. It's interesting that the governor of Rhode Island called out the NG to round up New Yorkers, De Santis in Florida is stopping them at the state line and issueing self quarantine orders and the word from LA is they are using mobile phone location tracking to hunt down people who are not complying. Police State Practice. Meanwhile the death toll is 24,000. From the flu we aren't panicing over.

"CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 39 million flu illnesses, 400,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths from flu.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

I wonder what October surprise we'll have this election cycle?

[JerseyJeffersonian]

Noticeable is how those losers at CBS just have to throw some shade on this with their Chicken Little squawking about prolonged slowdowns or stoppages from the effects of the coronavirus.

Here a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer on the "press", in this case the newspapers of his day, but easily extendable to today's "journalism" in whatever format. H/T to poster Jonathan Silber over at Sailer's blog at Unz Review...

Exaggeration of every kind is as essential to journalism as it is to the dramatic art; for the object of journalism is to make events go as far as possible. Thus it is that all journalists are, in the very nature of their calling, alarmists; and this is their way of giving interest to what they write. Herein they are like little dogs: if anything stirs, they immediately set up a shrill bark.

Therefore, let us carefully regulate the attention to be paid to this trumpet of danger, so that it may not disturb our digestion. Let us recognize that a newspaper is at best but a magnifying glass, and very often merely a shadow on the wall.

Arthur Schopenhauer, “On Some Forms of Literature.”

Not to make light of the inevitable fatalities and possible lingering incapacitations caused by the coronavirus, but really people, the world will continue to turn on its axis. Time to look beyond this.

I could be among those affected; I am 67, and an asthmatic, two risk factors. But if God crooks his finger at me, well, I go when summoned. The pot doesn't get to critique the potter for his timing.

Let's get it on, whether I am here or not; the future of our species lies not only here on earth, but also in space. I am only grateful that I have lived during the time when the journey has commenced.

[The Twisted Genius]

The Artemis program is an exciting project, but I'd be surprised if it meets its goal of a man or woman on the Moon by the end of 2024. The SLS and Orion capsule have been plagued by cost overruns and delays. The coming recession or depression will certainly affect the schedule. Hopefully, we as a nation can still get excited about it when it does happen.

I think the coming economic catastrophe will give us a chance to change aspects of of our current system, althoug I'm not holding my breath. Our current system seems to depend on instilling people with an ever increasing desire to piss away our money on crap we don't need. Without that, the system collapses. So many people have their panties in a wad because their portfolios aren't growing like a malignant cancer. Why the panic? I spent several years under cover working around small startup businesses. So many of those industrious and optimistic entrepreneurs failed one or more times. It's just the way life is. No one was pissing and moaning over the last nine years of rising stock prices. Well, it's not a guaranteed, but meager, interest rate on a savings account. It's a crap shoot. You pays your money, you takes your chance. Stop panicking.

[ked]

The Moon remains locked in Earth’s orbit. If mankind wants it, it will have it, sooner or later. Until desire (or more likely, need) is powerful enough to overcome the vagaries of earth-bound behaviors we’ll be stuck here.
Perhaps our cultures simply aren’t yet prepared for the scale of commitment, nor able to again make a competition of it.

[Nexus Operative]

Such a program is dear to my heart as my uncle worked at NASA in the glory days. How unfortunate it is that so many people on the right think we never landed on the moon! I too do not believe we will make the 2024 deadline even if COV-19 had not reared its ugly head. It is indeed depressing to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey that reflected how 1968 era Americana envisioned the future to be. Maybe we should push it back to 2101? Regardless we dare not stand by and allow other nations (PRC) to exploit the energy and weapons potential of Helium 3 on the moon.My fear is that the Space program will use it to spread diversity all throughout the solar system. You can see this is the Artemis Project where they are gung ho to land the first woman on the moon. Don't be surprised if it a woman of color!