White House wants US astronauts back on Moon by 2024, says Mike Pence. Challenge accepted, says Nasa chief
- US Vice-President Mike Pence says a ‘spark of urgency’ is needed to return Americans to the Moon
- His announcement accelerates by four years the US timetable to have the ‘first woman and next man’ on the lunar surface
US President Donald Trump’s administration announced Tuesday it was speeding up plans to send US astronauts back to the Moon, from 2028 to 2024, calling for a “spark of urgency” to prevail over delays that have plagued Nasa’s lunar return plans.
“It is the stated policy of this administration and the United States of America to return American astronauts to the Moon, within the next five years,” Vice-President Mike Pence vowed in a speech in Huntsville, Alabama, the “Rocket City” where American launchers have been built since the 1960s.
“Let me be clear, the first woman and the next man on the Moon will both be American astronauts launched by American rockets from American soil,” he said, echoing previous declarations by Nasa chief Jim Bridenstine that a woman could be the next human to set foot on the Moon.
Bridenstine responded to Pence’s 2024 deadline in a Twitter post: “Challenge accepted. Now let’s get to work.”
The first manned Moon flight since the last Apollo mission in 1972 had been scheduled for 2028.