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Mike Pence Tells NASA To Accelerate Human Missions To the Moon 'By Any Means Necessary' (theverge.com)
Today at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council, Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration is committed to sending humans back to the Moon by 2024, four years earlier than NASA's previous target of 2028. The Verge reports: Pence, speaking at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, noted that the administration will meet this goal "by any means necessary." He called on NASA to adopt new policies and argued that the space agency would need to embrace "a new mindset that begins with setting bold goals and staying on schedule." To do that, he said the administration may consider ditching some of NASA's current contractors -- which are currently developing new vehicles to take humans into deep space -- and using commercially developed rockets instead. "If commercial rockets are the only way to get American astronauts to the Moon in the next five years, then commercial rockets it will be," said Pence. "Urgency must be our watch word."
However, Pence offered few clear recommendations and changes that would help to accelerate NASA's return, apart from potentially switching rockets and contractors. "It was rhetoric about 'by all means possible' and 'we'll provide the resources necessary' and 'leadership is essential,'" John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University, tells The Verge. "I mean, they're all good words. But the devil's in the details."
However, Pence offered few clear recommendations and changes that would help to accelerate NASA's return, apart from potentially switching rockets and contractors. "It was rhetoric about 'by all means possible' and 'we'll provide the resources necessary' and 'leadership is essential,'" John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University, tells The Verge. "I mean, they're all good words. But the devil's in the details."
Let's not forget Apollo One, Jan. 27, 1967 ... All because NASA used pure Oxygen in the capsule.
Yes, but that wasn't really done to cut corners or to keep to the schedule, but because on other air mix incidents and/or concerns, Choice of pure oxygen atmosphere.
The Command-Module redesign included changing the air mixture and pressure while on the ground to be 64/40% oxygen/nitrogen and lower pressure (14 vs 16.7 PSI), with the mix changing to 100% oxygen and 5 PSI in flight -- the rational is detailed in the link. A 100% oxygen mix was kept in the suits to keep astronauts from getting the "bends" (decompression sickness) during the ascent.
In addition, and probably most importantly, all the flammable materials were replaced with non-flammable or self extinguishing materials.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Even in constant 2014 dollars, the current NASA budget is barely a third of what it was at its height — and since Space Has Really Become A Thing since then, what with the space stations and satellites and such, NASA tasked with doing a lot more missions than in the heady days of '66.
We want to get back to the moon in 5 years when we don't have human rated launch capability? And we want to do it on a giant rocket that hasn't launched once yet? Fine, but they're gonna need to open the pocketbooks a hell of a lot more than they are now.
The table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ("2014 Constant Dollars" column) clearly shows that the NASA budgets of the 60s were approximately double the recent/current NASA budgets. Half is in no way "about the same."
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