Sammi14h ago

I feel I need to say something about Artemis as a former NASA employee, Space scientist and engineer.

I hope more than anything that the astronauts get back safely. But let us not be fooled by what this is.

Is it spectacular, yes. Is it a feat of engineering, yes. Does it make any advance in science, no. Does it help mankind explore the universe, dubious at best.

Why exactly are we sending humans to the moon? With our technology we will never send humans much further than Mars. The only way humans can possibly go further is through a scientific breakthrough. Good luck with that when Trump is gutting science.

Human exploration needs money spent on long-term advances - not using the same technology to do what we did before, however, glamorous it is.

So why do this and why do it now? Political theatre, a win for a Trump led NASA if it succeeds.

So I hope all works well and all return safely. But let us be clear what this is and why it is being done.

This is my opinion, I do not represent anyone.

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@SamanthaJaneSmith

I am no friend of Trump.
I understand that Trump is temporary, Jan 2029 he will be removed from power, maybe sooner through a newly elected congress, or the stress or diabetes will take 80 year old man. Trump's days are numbered.

As a NASA employee you would understand that the science to travel to Mars or anywhere out the moon require technology we currently do not have for a human to land, survive, and live and perform their duties on Mars comfortably.

Outside the Earth's magnetosphere is Gama Cosmic radiation will cut through any craft and will damage the DNA of any Mars astronaut, and realistically we are century away from creating a safe and reasonable plan for a traveler to land on Mars and come back to Earth.

The current Moon landing is not about a creating a event, nor should we measure success based on that. It is about surveying possibilities of creating a space-port for space craft in the future. That future of that space-port may not be a few years, it may be decades or a century. The ground work have to be laid for the future, and requires a scope see further than the present.

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