• The Artemis II mission, which will return US astronauts to lunar space, has run into problems that have critics demanding NASA remove the crew from the flight for safety reasons. • The bigger question is, why do we have astronauts at all? • NASA’s Artemis program to set up a permanent US human presence on the Moon has so far cost the American taxpayer an eye-watering US$93 billion in return for, at the time of publication, only one unmanned flight around the Moon to show for it. • Despite this, the Orion space capsule with its crew of four aboard is now scheduled to launch atop the SLS rocket in March of this year at the earliest. • At least, that’s the plan. • However, along with launch delays, cost overruns and questions about the basic economics of the SLS, there are calls to remove the crew of Artemis II on the grounds that the Orion spacecraft is simply too unproven and too outright dangerous for astronauts to ride in it.

Article Summaries:

  • The Artemis II mission, which will return US astronauts to lunar space, has run into problems that have critics demanding NASA remove the crew from the flight for safety reasons. The bigger question is, why do we have astronauts at all? NASA’s Artemis program to set up a permanent US human presence on the Moon has so far cost the American taxpayer an eye-watering US$93 billion in return for, at the time of publication, only one unmanned flight around the Moon to show for it. Despite this, the Orion space capsule with its crew of four aboard is now scheduled to launch atop the SLS rocket in Mar

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