To the Moon & Back!
7th December 2020
Of the 12 people who have walked on the moon, zero have been women. NASA’s Artemis Program has a bold challenge to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024 – returning Americans to the lunar surface, opening the Moon for business, and building a path to Mars. Last year, NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenstine said: “I have a daughter. She is 11 years old, and I want her to see herself in the same position that our current, very diverse astronaut corps currently sees itself, having the opportunity to go to the moon”.
To achieve these objectives, NASA released a solicitation for industry to develop the final piece of its Artemis lunar architecture, the Human Landing System (HLS). Space company Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, leads the HLS National Team, which includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.
Blue Origin’s BE-7 engine program continues its testing at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. In the last few days, the program kicked off the fourth thrust chamber test series of its high-efficiency engine. Jeff Bezos provided a short video of the test and reaffirmed via Instagram “This is the engine that will take the first woman to the surface of the Moon.”
The question now is – where do I sign up!
