NASA is Going Back to the Moon Next Month in a Ship That Many Experts Feel Is Unsafe

The target launch date for the Artemis II mission, which will take four astronauts on a trip to orbit the moon, is Feb. 6. Early next week, top brass at NASA will gather for a “go /no-go” decision on whether to launch.

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It’s been a long time coming. NASA has been developing the Space Launch System (SLS), which includes two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and the Orion capsule, for 20 years. Development costs have exceeded $29 billion (excluding the Orion capsule), and the entire Artemis campaign is projected to have cost $93 billion through FY2025.

There has been exactly one SLS launch in all that time. An unmanned Artemis 1 was launched in November 2022, traveling to the Moon and back. It was