NASA: Budget Boost ‘Good Start' To Put Astronauts On Moon

NASA’s chief said that the Trump administration’s proposed $1.6 billion budget boost is a “good start” for getting astronauts back on the moon within five years.

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Administrator Jim Bridenstine addressed employees a day after the White House introduced the budget amendment.

During an hourlong town hall from NASA headquarters in Washington, Bridenstine said $1.6 billion is enough for 2020. But more money will be needed in the years ahead to land “the next man and the first woman” at the south pole of the moon by 2024.

NASA is once again turning to Greek mythology for the name of the project. It’s being called Artemis, after the twin sister of Apollo. Apollo was the name of NASA’s moonshot program that, 50 years ago this summer, achieved the first manned lunar landing.

NASA landed 12 men on the moon over six Apollo missions. For the next go-around, the space agency wants its moonwalkers to reflect today’s more diverse astronaut corps, thus the name of Apollo’s sister. Artemis was goddess of the hunt as well as the moon.