NASA will land the first person of color, in addition to the first woman on the moon with the Artemis program, NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk revealed today (April 9).
The government of President Joe Biden today presented a budget proposal that presented its priorities for discretionary spending for the fiscal year 2022 to Congress. The proposed budget includes an increase in funding that will support the proceeds of Mars, research, climate science and more at NASA. Jurczyk responded to the news in a statement from NASA, revealing that the agency will land the first colored person on the moon with the Artemis program, which aims to return people to the lunar surface.
This funding request “keeps NASA on track to land the first woman and first colored man on the moon under the Artemis program. This goal is in line with President Biden’s commitment to take a comprehensive approach to promoting equity for all, ” reads the NASA statement.
The statement is the first time the agency has specified that it will land a colored person on the moon; previous comments about Artemis only referred to the landing of the ‘next man and the first woman’ on the moon.
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Under President Donald Trump’s administration, NASA planned to complete the first Artemis lunar landing by 2024, but the Biden government has not yet commented on whether it will stick to NASA’s this ambitious timeline.
Jurczyk’s full statement reads:
“This $ 24.7 billion funding request demonstrates the commitment of the Biden administration to NASA and its partners, who have worked so hard under difficult circumstances over the past year and achieved unprecedented success.
“The President’s discretionary request increases NASA’s ability to better understand the Earth and better monitor and predict the effects of climate change. It also gives us the resources to continue advancing America’s dual moon. to the Mars exploration plan, including first woman and first person color on the moon under the Artemis program.
“We know this funding increase is taking place in a time of limited resources, and we owe it to the president and the American people to be good and responsible managers of every tax dollar invested in NASA. The NASA workforce and the US “People need to be encouraged by what they see in this funding request. It is an investment in our future and it shows confidence in what this agency offers.”
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NASA’s statement further contains information about the discretionary funding request, including the fact that it supports STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and ‘strengthens NASA’s ability to better understand the earth and how it works as a integrated system, from our oceans to our atmosphere, how it all affects our daily lives and how it is affected by climate change, ”reads the statement.
After this funding request, we will learn more about the administration’s general objectives regarding space, science and NASA programs. President Biden is expected to announce a full budget in the coming months, which will include a more detailed plan for spending. However, budgets for NASA and the rest of the federal government are ultimately determined by Congress.
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