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News of a rise and fall of the US space program came this week shortly after NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine admitted that he would not continue in the post under US President-elect Joe. Biden.
Four astronauts are heading up to the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend in the first newly certified crew vehicle in decades, while lawmakers in the US Congress. down a request Bridenstine said would have allowed him to keep his signature promise.
As Washington, DC, began to reorganize for political transition, Bridenstine told Aviation Week Daily defense on November 8 that he would not continue with Biden.
Probably the most momentous is a new development of Bridenstine’s own legacy: Members of the Senate may have dealt the final blow to Bridenstine’s most publicized goal: returning American astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2024.
In the wave of nostalgia leading up to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, Bridenstine announced target # Moon2024 in March 2019 along with United States Vice President Mike Pence.
His plan would have launched the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket this year, sending an unmanned Orion capsule around the Moon and back on a mission that came to be known as Artemis 1, later followed by a manned mission to the lunar orbit, culminating in a human landing on the surface of the Moon in 2024, famous for at least one man and one woman, during the last year of a second Trump presidency.
Bridenstine linked the # Moon2024 goal inherently to a second Trump term, saying the strategy would “remove political risk” from the program, risk like when the administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden canceled the George W Bush administration’s Constellation program that He also planned to Return the Astronauts to the Moon.
Having given up his House seat to take over as NASA administrator, Bridenstine is seen to be garnering bipartisan support during his tenure, but it doesn’t appear that Congress will be delivered by # Moon2024.
Although Bridenstine told senators in September that NASA would need more than $ 3 billion in fiscal year 2021 for the lunar landers to be built fast enough to achieve the goal, even the Trump-loyal Senate has noted that you will probably disagree with the idea. A committee recommended on November 10 to fund just $ 1 billion of that, which could cement Bridenstine’s legacy.
In the meantime, you had the good fortune as an administrator to participate in some historic achievements, including the events surrounding SpaceX’s crewed test flight of its Crew Dragon capsule. SpaceX built the capsule under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which began under the Obama administration.
NASA also announced on November 10 that it had certified the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to legally transport humans, clearing the way for regular trips to the ISS.
Other memorable aspects of Bridenstine’s time at NASA have included a social media brawl with Elon Musk over priorities; the near-disastrous unmanned test flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule; and a popular increase in private sector contracts for lunar exploration.
When they were first asked to approve Bridenstine’s nomination as administrator, some members of Congress objected to putting a politician in charge of NASA. As Bridenstine said Aviation week, Politics also dictated his decision to step aside:
“Whoever the president is, they have to have someone they know and trust and someone the administration trusts. That person will not be me, “he said.
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