National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) President Bill Nelson briefed the US House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee about SpaceX’s Starship rocket plans. Bill Nelson, in his presentations to the committee, touched upon NASA’s future plans as well as Starship’s next launch date.Starship could be launched again in two months
Addressing Congress at a session discussing NASA’s budget request for fiscal year 2024, Nelson assured members that SpaceX is a “hardware-rich” company capable of blowing up rockets during tests. NASA President announced that SpaceX plans to conduct its next Starship test two months later, in June.
Nelson also thinks that Starship’s explosion was not such a big deal. Because, according to Nelson, SpaceX is a resource-rich institution and that’s the way it works. Until now, SpaceX prefers to launch its rockets first rather than extensive tests. If there is a problem with the launch, they can directly see the problem and try again. Falcon 9’s first flight and rapid progress afterward, Falcon 9’s first landing and rapid progress afterward are examples of these.
NASA is confident
The committee also asked the NASA President about the schedules for future missions. Nelson said he expects Artemis 2 to launch “by the end of 2024” and Artemis 3 about a year later. A mission manifest released by NASA in March indicated that Artemis 2 would launch in November 2024 and Artemis 3 in December 2025.The committee also asked about the implications of possible budget cuts at NASA. Because a 22 percent decrease in the NASA budget is on the agenda. Nelson said such a decision would be a complete disaster and delay targets. Nelson also underlined that the programs will be delayed in the absence of the 7 percent budget increase planned for 2024.
Meanwhile, NASA is currently dependent on SpaceX for Moon missions. Because the rocket that is planned to land people on the Moon in Artemis missions will be Starship. All of NASA’s eggs appear in the same basket, but the agency says it’s also looking for a second lander. In addition, it should be noted that China has similar Moon plans. So it’s a lunar race.
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