"Scott Kozel" wrote in message
...

On Friday, August 2, 2019 at 4:52:06 PM UTC-4, JF Mezei wrote:
On 2019-08-02 12:54, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:

That's the 2 billion dollar question.
Given current (and expected) funding levels and costs, I'd be surprised
if
they could sustain 1 flight a year.
And honestly, if you're building Lunar Boondoggle and all, you really
want
to fly more than that I'd think.

At a recent event at 1600 Pennsylvania studios, the actor playing the
role of president asked about mission to Mars, and while Bidenstine
stated Gateway/Moon was needed, astronauts who were present disagreed
and told him that bypassing moon was preferable.

SLS/Orion will have its flight around the moon and back. Not sure they
will even land. Funding will shift to Mars, at which point the whole
Gateway/Moon thing will go on backburner and funding redirected to
hardware that can go to Mars.

Have they figured any realistic way to return astronauts from the surface
of Mars back to Earth?

Hitch a ride from SpaceX.
s

--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
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