That’s also one finding of a NASA-commissioned study, quietly posted to the agency’s website last month, which found that its current plans for future crewed lunar missions aren’t affordable and likely won’t produce long-term economic benefits, per The Wall Street Journal. Not surprisingly, the industry argues that the country’s future in space depends on stronger partnerships between NASA and the private sector. Meanwhile, the aerospace industry sees a faster and cheaper path to the moon, with some imagining a lunar outpost as soon as the middle of the 2020s.
The yet-to-be-launched rocket that could take crews there is expected to cost about $1 billion per launch. While NASA’s plans envision a return to the moon by 2023, the agency currently lacks specific funding or even designs for a vehicle to actually land people on the surface. Commercial Spaceflight Federation president Eric Stallmer How exactly we’ll get back there remains fuzzy.
