A couple of months ago NASA claimed the next person it's sending to the Moon would be a woman. Now, it looks like they're trying to make good on that.
The space agency has revealed the next mission to the Moon, and it will take the first woman ever to the lunar surface.
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission - Images courtesy: NASA
The new mission is named Artemis, after the Greek goddess of the Moon and the hunt. Specifically, she was also the twin sister of the god Apollo, the name of the first NASA Moon mission.
Apollo is famous for putting the first men on the moon in the late 1960s and 1970s, so it's fitting that his sister gives her name for the first women to do the same. Right now, the Artemis mission is planned for 2024.
"I think it is very beautiful that 50 years after Apollo, the Artemis program will carry the next man and the first woman to the Moon," said NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. "I have a daughter who is 11 years old, and I want her to be able to see herself in the same role as the next women that go to the Moon."
The Artemis mission will have two passengers on board, the next man to go the moon and the first woman. Unfortunately though, there's currently no guarantee of the mission whatsoever.
NASA has been developing ?crew capsules and rockets for deep space, but they're nowhere no completion. Additionally, they probably also need to complete the vast amounts of scientific hardware they would want transported to the lunar surface.
NASA astronaut Anne McClain could be a potential candidate for a trip to the Moon
Then there's the fact that, though the Trump administration had demanded NASA get to the Moon again in five years, this mission still needs to get approval from the US Congress in order to receive a budget.
So yes, a cool name and the first woman on the Moon is great and all, but it might be a while before this mission actually delivers.