Twelve American men have walked the moon. The last Apollo astronaut left his footprint there in December 1972. Now, half a century later, NASA plans to send humans back to the moon. The new program is called Artemis, after Apollo’s mythical twin sister, and the goal is that the next footprint on the moon is made by a woman. The astronaut who gets that assignment has not yet been chosen.
As you will see, this new push to the moon is plagued by doubts, cost overruns and delays. But we found something else interesting when we visited NASA: the Artemis program is not just mentioned for a woman it is largely run by women
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: So there is no place on launch day where I would like to be, but here.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is NASA’s first female launch director.
In a year or so, she will command ‘go to launch’ for the first Artemis moon rocket in the historic Firing Room One at Kennedy Space Center, which she first visited over 30 years ago as a graduate applying for a job. .
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: It’s the same room from which the Apollo 11 mission was launched. And it is the same room where we will launch the first flight of the Artemis missions.
Bill Whitaker: When that young woman first came in here, did you really say to yourself, “I want to do this someday”?
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: I absolutely did. My … my thought was, “How do I get a chair in this room?
Bill Whitaker: And now you have “the” chair in the room.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: I have a nice chair in this room. (LAUGHTER)
All Apollo moon missions were launched on top of huge Saturn five rockets, the most powerful in the world at the time. NASA’s new rocket is even more muscular.
Bill Whitaker: Can you put into words how powerful this new missile is?
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: The core stage will hold hundreds of thousands of gallons of propellant. Over eight million pounds of thrust at launch.
The most powerful rocket ever is called the Space Launch System or SLS. It has been in development for ten years, but it has yet to fly; and has only fired its four main engines once in a test.
Jody Singer: It’s hard work to cheat gravity.
Jody Singer is another female first for NASA: As the first woman to run the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, her job has been to build the SLS, which is designed to go to the Moon and beyond.
Jody Singer: It was built to go to deep space. And right now, this is the only vehicle that the Orion can carry and take what it does to go into deep space.
The Orion is the capsule that astronauts will use to ride on top of the SLS rocket. The first is ready to go. The lunar module is still in the “concept” phase, but NASA doesn’t really need it until the third Artemis moon mission.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: Artemis I is about testing this integrated vehicle, SLS with Orion. Artemis II is about taking on the crew and preparing for Artemis III. Then where do we go to the surface of the moon.
Bill Whitaker: Can you hear yourself, and how cool does that sound?
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: It sounds pretty cool.
Another cool bit of the Artemis plan is a space station called Gateway, intended to orbit the moon.
NASA plans to use Elon Musk’s SpaceX company to launch Gateway’s components on one of its Falcon Heavy rockets.
The Falcon Heavy is already flying, the first launch sent Musk’s Tesla Roadster towards Mars a few years ago; yes, that actually happened. Jody Singer says SpaceX is an illustration of the partnership between NASA and commercial launch providers.
Jody Singer: We work together. And I think collaboration is how we can deliver on the Artemis program. We both bring great things into this partnership.
When that partnership will actually bring women and men to the moon is uncertain. Donald Trump set 2024 as a target; that was seen by insiders as unrealistic. President Biden has not set a timetable, but his White House has given Artemis’ idea an early thumbs up.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki at briefing: … another man and a woman to the moon, which is very exciting.
Bill Whitaker: What does it say about NASA that you are in these positions in what used to be a totally male-dominated atmosphere?
Jody Singer: Well, number one, I’d say we’ve come a long way. You know, Charlie and I know we’ve known each other for at least 20 years. We loved each other. But we were also, you know, the only women in the room at times.
Not anymore. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson says that on launch day, 30% of the engineers in what is now her shooting room will be women.
Bill Whitaker: Have you always been interested in space, even when you were a little kid?
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: I remember the last Apollo missions, the last few. And I can remember the feeling of curiosity and awe. I could go out and look at the sky and have our astronauts visit the moon.
The pool of 18 Artemis astronauts has already been selected. Nine women, nine men. Six of them are test pilots, four have a PhD and three are doctors. It is not yet known which of them will fly to the Moon, but two are currently in space on the International Space Station.
Bill Whitaker: Why the Moon? Why delay the cost of returning to the moon? ‘
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: We are still learning from the samples returned during the Apollo program. There is so much science – so many scientific discoveries that come from the return to the moon.
Scientists are particularly excited by recent evidence that there is a lot of ice near the moon’s south pole. That’s exactly where Artemis should land. Ice means H2O, which means water keeps alive, and hydrogen and oxygen to potentially turn into rocket fuel.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: I would like to point to the moon as a testing ground, a waypoint, so that we can learn how to live in deep space when we are only away from home for a few days, rather than months or years, for destinations like Mars.
Lori Garver: And it will be great when we go back, and especially we will be great if we can stay this time.
Lori Garver was NASA’s number two official during much of the Obama administration. She wants America back on the moon, but believes the current approach is the wrong way to get there.
Lori Garver: I wouldn’t have recommended that the government build a $ 27 billion rocket, while the private sector is building rockets that are nearly the same size without the taxpayers doing anything.
She’s talking about missiles like Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy.
Garver was an early proponent of turning everything around the development of large new rockets to private companies such as SpaceX.
Lori Garver: But Congress had a different purpose. Their goal was actually to renew the contracts and jobs in their districts.
At the time – 2010 – the space shuttle was about to take off and members of Congress feared that space travel jobs in their districts would also disappear.
Bill Whitaker: The SLS, the Space Launch System, is derisively called the Senate Launch System. Can you explain to us why it has that nickname?
Lori Garver: In this case, it was the Senate that came to us at NASA and said, “No, we don’t like your plan. And we’re going to make sure you build it this way.”
So Boeing, the space shuttle’s prime contractor and long-time NASA partner, became the prime contractor for the SLS.
Lori Garver: The industry said they’d do it for $ 6 billion within six years. That was the missile. It’s been $ 20 billion in eleven years.
NASA’s Jody Singer acknowledges the delays and cost overruns, but insists it’s the right model.
Jody Singer: The Space Launch System, I can proudly say, has work in over 45 states and over 1,100 suppliers. The Space Launch System is thus a national vehicle. That means jobs. That means that across the country, for the SLS alone, more than 25,000 people are employed.
Lori Garver: It is frankly ironic that NASA, the symbol of a democratic and capitalist society, has run many of its manned space flight programs in a more socialist way.
Bill Whitaker: More in a socialist way. (LAUGH) I think a lot of the senators whose districts get these NASA jobs would refuse that description.
Lori Garver: You plant the potatoes in March. You build your missile in my district. That’s what it is.
The top-down approach, Garver says, has produced a NASA SLS rocket costing more than $ 2 billion for each launch, while SpaceX pilots its Falcon Heavy for a fraction of that.
NASA’s SLS can launch a heavier payload, but it’s a missile you have to use and lose; none of the parts can be reused. Spacex booster rockets, on the other hand, make soft landings after launch, so they can be used again and again. Two of the first phases have each been launched eight times!
Bill Whitaker: Am I missing something saying this is the new way, and what’s the matter with NASA is the old way?
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: Well, I probably wouldn’t describe it as ‘the new way’ and ‘the old way’. I would probably characterize it as just different ways. I would say our missile was designed based on proven technology.
Bill Whitaker: So you wouldn’t say it’s “old” or “proven”?
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: I would say it’s “proven.”
Still, it has been sufficiently proven that the SpaceX rockets now trust NASA to take its astronauts to the International Space Station.
Those successful missions are not to be confused with an all-new rocket called starship that SpaceX is testing in Texas. Three test flights so far, all three ending in spectacular explosions… the last one last week.
Bill Whitaker: So should NASA run and start relying on SpaceX and commercial launchers – for the moon and beyond?
Lori Garver: Undoubtedly. We should have done earlier.
Bill Whitaker: Is NASA able to make that shift?
Lori Garver: Oh, of course. I mean, NASA is capable of more than they … they realize.
Bill Whitaker: Now, given everything you’ve told me, will Congress let NASA make that shift?
Lori Garver: Probably not.
Currently, the core stage for the first Artemis mission is in a test rig in Mississippi – the same booth used for the Apollo missions. It waits for a test fire, after technical failures abort the first.
There are six American flags on the moon, one for each Apollo landing. But the latest flag there is Chinese, left last year by a robot lander who collected samples and brought them back to Earth. Beijing eventually plans to send astronauts.
Bill Whitaker: Aren’t we in a space race with China?
Lori Garver: There is no race to go to the moon. We won it. We’ve won it six times. And I have no doubt we’ll be back with people before anyone else goes.
And Charlie Blackwell-Thompson will be the woman to launch them from her chair in the firebox.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson: We talk a lot about the moon, and I think the moon is phenomenal, and I can’t wait to go back. But when we’re talking about those young people who might have been like me when I was younger, looking at the night sky and looking at the moon, then I want them to look at the night sky and not be limited to the moon.
Produced by Rome Hartman. Associate producer, Sara Kuzmarov. Broadcaster, Emilio Almonte. Edited by Craig Crawford.