{"id":19071,"date":"2017-02-15T18:54:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T10:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-looks-into-sending-astronauts-on-a-trip-beyond-the-moon-as-early-as-2019\/"},"modified":"2017-02-15T18:54:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T10:54:16","slug":"nasa-looks-into-sending-astronauts-on-a-trip-beyond-the-moon-as-early-as-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-looks-into-sending-astronauts-on-a-trip-beyond-the-moon-as-early-as-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA looks into sending astronauts on a trip beyond the moon as early as 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Orion
An artist\u2019s conception shows NASA\u2019s Orion capsule in flight. (NASA Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA and its commercial partners say they\u2019re studying the possibility of sending astronauts beyond the moon years earlier than planned, by putting a crew on the first flight of the space agency\u2019s heavy-lift Space Launch System.<\/p>\n

The NASA study, sparked in part by a desire for the Trump administration to do something dramatic in space during its first term, would consider whether such a flight could occur in 2019 or 2020.<\/p>\n

The current plan calls for an uncrewed test flight of the SLS and NASA\u2019s Orion capsule in late 2018, known as Exploration Mission-1 or EM-1. That mission would followed by a crewed test flight called EM-2 in the 2021-2023 time frame.<\/p>\n

In a statement, NASA said acting administrator Robert Lightfoot asked Bill Gerstenmaier, the agency\u2019s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, to assess whether the first crew could ride on EM-1 instead of EM-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study will examine the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space,\u201d NASA said.<\/p>\n

Gerstenmaier discussed the study with NASA\u2019s commercial Orion\/SLS partners at a conference today in Washington, D.C. NASA representatives declined to specify how long the study would take, but some of the reports that emerged after Gerstenmaier\u2019s talk suggested a 30-day time frame.<\/p>\n

Boeing, Lockheed Martin on board<\/h4>\n

EM-1\u2019s current mission plan calls for sending the Orion capsule on a trajectory beyond the moon, most likely into lunar orbit, and then back to Earth. No lunar landing would be attempted. The trip would be similar to Apollo 8\u2019s \u201cEarthrise\u201d mission in 1968. The current plan calls for EM-2 to go beyond the moon as well.<\/p>\n

The revised plan would force NASA and its partners to ensure that EM-1 had all the safety and life support features required for human spaceflight. That\u2019s why EM-1 would have to fly somewhat later that currently planned.<\/p>\n