“During President Trump’s first term, the Artemis program was formally established to return humanity to the Moon,” White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said in a statement. “President Trump is excited about the next phase with the historic upcoming Artemis II launch.” …
But months into his second term, the president submitted a budget wishlist to Congress that would have slashed the program’s funding and eventually eliminated the long-developed rocket program it relies on to ferry humans to the moon.
“The Budget phases out the grossly expensive and delayed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after three flights,” Trump’s request reads, noting the $4 billion-per-launch price tag. (Although the Artemis program began during Trump’s first term, the Space Launch System had been in development since 2011.)
The president requested an $879 million cut to the NASA program supporting the Artemis missions.
…
Congress rejected most of the cuts
https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/artemis-moon-program-trump-cut
11 Comments
If someone says Republicans like space travel in my presence I will scream
You mean the Donald J Trump moon rocket? Of course he likes it.
Now that more of the actual hard work is done, they are going to be all over it.
He just wants to take credit for it.
He wants to put his name on the moon, like everything else.
I doubt this is really anything he’s going to follow through with, it matches his past patterns.
All you ever have to do with this ass clown is follow the money.
This is a very odd article.
The Trump administration never tried to cancel Artemis II (which, hopefully, launches tomorrow) and which is being “championed” right now.
The Trump administration, per the article, actually devised and funded Artemis originally.
What the Trump administration did do is submit a budget to cut, among other things, Artemis IV onward (note, with the change in schedule, that would now be Artemis V onward).
While the stance is debatable, it isn’t unreasonable to try and retire SLS + Orion as soon as possible. They are huge money pits devouring a large portion of NASA’s budget for very little return. As more commercial options become available (New Glenn, Blue Moon Mk-2, Starship, etc.), the case for SLS + Orion becomes even more absurd.
I think the author is trying to make a mountain out of their biases.
The article points out that Artemis was established under trumps first term and a part of the administration’s request for funding cuts during his second term to cut SLS and the Orion capsule. Specifically pointing to the heavy price tag. The exact same thing everyone has been saying for years. Congress mandated NASA use SLS AND Orion, both of which started under the constellation program and has so far failed to deliver on its promise for well over a decade.
SLS is outdated, inefficient and extremely expensive and only exists to keep certain contractors from the shuttle era afloat. Orion is too heavy, expensive and has has yet to mature despite being older that any other capsule in use or tested since the shuttle. For frame of reference its design started in 2006 and only 4 have been built. Its first flight was 8 years after being selected.
Trump will grift off this…it’s his way
Wait a few months. He’ll change his mind again.