By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
Artemis III crew members will soon begin their mission to the moon.
NASA’s Jared Issacman explains in an interview with CBS News what the plans are for Artemis III and what we should expect.
“We’re surrounded by the best and brightest here across all these centers,” Isaacman said about NASA. “They knew at the time that going from Artemis II, which hadn’t flown yet, and flying around the moon, and waiting three years to then launch that very big complicated rocket again to land on the moon was a bridge too far. What we needed was the President’s mandate. So, the national space policy said go back to the moon, do it before 2028, build the moon base, do the other things, and then we needed the resources.”
There will be hardware changes and improvements. NASA and the entire team have studied past missions, such as Apollo 9, which was in the 1960s. Some aspects of Artemis III bring more excitement and, to a certain extent, a more complex story.
“Today, we have the healthiest launch industry in the history of America’s space program. You don’t need to combine everything in one shot,” Isaacman said. “We can send up our astronauts on SLS. We can send up landers with SpaceX. We can send up landers with Blue Origin. We got a half-dozen other companies sending up landers to help us build the moon base. So, it’s the right approach. I think it’ll be great for those who are watching. You’re going to see again three of the most powerful rockets in the world come underway.”
A good landing will be critical to the success of this mission. It’s all about finding the right resources and doing it the right way. Many of the astronauts are experienced and have been on the moon before. Isaacman is very confident. He understands that companies such as Blue Origin and SpaceX have had their failures in the past. He’s not concerned.
“I’m confident for a couple of reasons,” Issacman said. “First, when you see Blue Origin and SpaceX have their various setbacks, that seems surprising. I would encourage folks to go on YouTube and start looking at some of the NASA era rocket tests in the early 1960s, and they looked very similar.”
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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