Donald Trump never had ‘realistic goals’ for Artemis: NASA chief Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson, the chief of NASA, said that the launch of Artemis was never a “realistic goal” for former US President Donald Trump, who wanted planned to put humans on the moon by 2024. “The target is 2025”, Nelson conflicted. “2024 was set by the Trump administration and that was never a realistic goal”, he added.

 NASA called off the launch of its mighty new moon rocket on its debut flight with three test dummies aboard Monday after a last-minute cascade of problems culminating in unexplained trouble related to an engine.

Also Read: Why NASA postponed Artemis I launch

Then-Vice President Mike Pence had set similar milestones for NASA. In March 2019, the Republican said that he wants to put humans back on the moon by 2024, as competition ramped up against China. “Make no mistake about it—we are in a space race today”, Pence told the National Space Council, according to reports from Newsweek.

“China became the first nation to land on the far side of the moon and revealed their ambition to seize the lunar strategic high ground and become the world’s pre-eminent space-faring nation”, he added.

The Artemis programme, under the administration of US President Joe Biden, will aim to send humans into the moon’s orbit. A two-person lunar landing could follow by the end of 2025.

United States Vice President Kamala Harris, along with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, arrived at the launch location to witness the historic liftoff. Apollo 10 astronaut Tom Stafford was also present.

Also Read: NASA postpones Artemis I launch: 4 issues spacecraft faced

The next launch attempt will not take place until Friday at the earliest and could be delayed until mid-September or later, news agency Associated Press reported.

The mission will be the first flight in NASA’s Artemis project, a quest to put astronauts back on the moon for the first time since the Apollo program ended 50 years ago.