After years of development and countless tests of its rocket and crew capsule, NASA has almost all the hardware it needs to send astronauts back to the moon.
For the first time since the Apollo program, NASA is looking for a new lander for its Artemis program.
“When I see it, it’s giving me goosebumps,” Lisa Watson-Morgan, who hosts the show, told CBS News’ Mark Strassmann as she walked to the Apollo lander at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. , Alabama, has been exhibited.
The Apollo Lunar Module, built by Grumman, was actually two spacecraft in one. The lower half, the downhill road, lowered the vehicle and its crew to a soft landing.
When it was time to go home, the crew took the crew back to their haircut.
“We are definitely building for Apollo. We say, ‘Okay, we’re seeing what they did, okay, we’re living in a different era. What’s meaningful to us today, what’s meaningful to NASA and what will help us to have more of a sustained presence? ” Watson-Morgan said.
Unlike Apollo, NASA will not own the Artemis landing system. Instead, it will buy a landing service that chooses from three dramatically different proposals. The space agency will be expected to choose from three designs this month.
One of the proposals is from Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. It leads a team of airlines that have devised an integrated design.
Brent Sherwood, vice president of advanced development programs at Blue Origin, told Strassmann, “The goal is to learn how to work there permanently.” That’s why Blue Origin’s water-based propulsion system is because ice at the moon’s south pole can one day be converted into rocket fuel.
“Hydrogen and oxygen are available on the moon in the form of ice in the polar regions. And our vision is based on the development of the lunar resources in the future to make these systems reusable instead of bringing everything off the earth, “Sherwood said.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX introduces a lander based on its Starship design. The company is now testing it in Texas. Outside, an elevator-like space will lower astronauts to the surface.
There’s another approach from Dynetics, based in Huntsville, Alabama. It has a horizontal layout and the crew hatches just eight feet above the ground.
“This is one of the most striking aspects of our design … We would like to say when Neil Armstrong came down from the lander and said, ‘One small step for man, one giant leap,’ he did not want it literally. one should not be a giant leap, ”said Jonathan Pettus, CEO of Dynetics.
He made CBS News a twist in his company’s model.
“And what else would Neil and Buzz not recognize?” Ask Strassmann.
‘Well, first of all, they will not recognize so much space. It’s double the size of what they had, ‘Pettus said.
“If you win, what would that mean for the company,” Strassmann asked.
“Of course it’s great from a business perspective, but ultimately it’s the ability to play a role in this kind of treasure of the country, the space program … you know, you can not put a price on it,” he replies. Pettus. .
The Apollo lander successfully delivered a dozen Americans to the moon. Now NASA has to choose: What design will land America’s next lunar walkers?
“How do you balance with a formula you know works, as opposed to being open to new ways of doing things?” Ask Strassmann.
“Well, because if you’ve always done what you did, you’re always going to get what you got!” Watson-Morgan said. “I mean, you know, we have to try new things … We would definitely not be American for not trying something new, right?”