Final in series of posts celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 journey to the moon. This looks at upcoming trips back to the moon
"As early as September of next year, a metal-wrapped spacecraft will slowly fall toward the surface of the moon. Retro rockets on its underbelly will puff tiny amounts of fuel into the moon’s tenuous exosphere, silently slowing and steering the uncrewed ship. As its legs find purchase on the sun-bleached gray surface, the moon will once again host the American flag. But this time, the stars and stripes will decorate a spacecraft designed not “for all mankind,” as the Apollo lander was, but for kickstarting lunar commerce.
This time, the spacecraft is not owned by NASA but by the company that built and will operate it. NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS) reflects the agency's 21st century outlook that private ownership is the surest path to a robust and self-sustaining lunar economy, in which not only NASA but also other space agencies and private companies will pay to ship freight and eventually people to the lunar surface."
CEOs of Astrobotic and Space Angels discuss the new NASA/startup landscape
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