NASA To Start Work On Next Space Adventure, Build 'Gateway' Station Orbiting The Moon In 2019

It was only a matter of time before humanity revisited moon in a big way, and NASA's scheduled to start doing just that beginning early 2019.

The US aerospace agency is scheduled to begin work on the Lunar Orbital Platform "Gateway" by awarding project contracts to early next year.

Think of the Lunar Orbital Platform "Gateway" to be built around the moon similar to what the International Space Station is to earth right now.

According to a Bloomberg report, NASA's planning Gateway to be a “staging” area for exploring the moon and the first big step towards venturing into deep-space.

NASA

Eventually, NASA expects the lunar Gateway to function as an important space station for astronauts traveling to and from Mars.

At a recent space conference in the US, NASA;s Associate Administrator for Human Explorations and Operations, William Gerstenmaier, announced that the US aerospace agency has a goal of having four astronauts in orbit around the moon by 2025, thanks to "Gateway" of course.

earthrise

Trips to the lunar outpost "Gateway" will be aboard NASA's?Orion, a?spacecraft being built by Lockheed Martin, while the?service module?is?supplied by the European Space Agency. The Orion’s first flight, without any humans onboard, is scheduled for next year.?

Finally, we are going back to the moon in a big way. So excited!