[ExI] NASA: go Go GO back to the moon

[Giulio Prisco]

Reuters: "The Trump administration has directed NASA to study whether
it is feasible to fly astronauts on the debut flight of the agency’s
heavy-lift rocket, a mission currently planned to be unmanned and
targeted to launch in late 2018."

"Engineers are assessing hardware changes, schedule delays, additional
costs and increased risks of flying a two-member crew on the first
flight of the Space Launch System rocket, which is about four times
bigger and more powerful than any current U.S. booster."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-nasa-idUSKBN1632B2

NASA: "NASA is assessing the feasibility of adding a crew to the first
integrated flight of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and
Orion spacecraft, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). NASA is building new
deep space capabilities to take humans farther into the solar system
than we have ever traveled, and ultimately to Mars."

"During the first mission of SLS and Orion, NASA plans to send the
spacecraft into a distant lunar retrograde orbit, which will require
additional propulsion moves, a flyby of the moon and return trajectory
burns. The mission is planned as a challenging trajectory to test
maneuvers and the environment of space expected on future missions to
deep space. If the agency decides to put crew on the first flight, the
mission profile for Exploration Mission-2 would likely replace it,
which is an approximately eight-day mission with a multi-translunar
injection with a free return trajectory."

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-kicks-off-study-to-add-crew-to-first-flight-of-orion-sls-as-progress-continues-to-send

Of course the plan will be criticized and demonized because it comes
from the Trump administration. But I think this mission could revive
our enthusiasm for manned space exploration and prepare the way for a
magic decade, the "roaring twenties" inspired by the magic sixties.
There are of course safety concerns, but if I were a candidate
astronaut I would sign up without thinking twice.

In 1968 the Apollo 8 Christmas mission around the Moon was the best
Christmas gift to our generation. Please NASA, give us and the next
generations an awesome Christmas gift next year.