WASHINGTON — The number of manned launches at Kennedy Space Center should pick up dramatically in the coming years, with bigger rockets.
NASA administrators now plan to begin building a moon base by 2028, beginning with the Artemis IV and V missions. The four-year process will begin to be permanently staffed by 2032.
To support this, manned missions to the moon would take place at least every six months.
Also in 2028, NASA plans to launch a nuclear fission-powered rocket to Mars, dropping off a payload of nuclear-powered helicopters to image the planet’s surface and seek a suitable site for a future Mars base.
That rocket could continue on to the agency’s next planetary target: Uranus. That planet is most similar to planets they’ve discovered orbiting nearby stars, making it a prime opportunity to explore and test equipment before attempting any deep-space missions.
Administrators also said Kennedy would begin hosting Starship launches by 2027.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman acknowledged that many little things would have to go right before he could call his plans a success.
In order to pay for the surface moon base, Isaacman said they would shelve the Gateway program, which was designing an orbital moon base.
He also said he was looking to convert thousands of NASA contractors to civil servants, including workers at Kennedy Space Center.
Leaders also laid out a new plan for the retirement of the International Space Station, which will be used as a foundation to build commercial space stations before the companies that own them detach and float away.
NASA is hoping that cuts costs and makes building commercial stations easier, which will encourage competition before the ISS is decommissioned in the mid-2030s.
They said its lifespan couldn’t be extended much longer as it would no longer be structurally sound.
Finally, administrators said a plan was in the works to boost the Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit to extend the famous camera’s lifespan.
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