Thread by @DrAlakbarov

As I've predicted few months ago, NASA has reassigned two top officials in its exploration program, including Bill Gerstenmaier, the longtime head of NASA’s human spaceflight programs

NASA has been given a bold challenge to put the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024, with a focus on the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars.

The White House is very angry with NASA.

After Trump tweeted in June that NASA should be focusing on Mars, not the moon, there are rumors among agency employees that another policy shift is forthcoming, perhaps linked to next week’s 50th anniversary of the moon landings.

NASA is caught in a traditional bind between a White House demanding the acceleration of flashy prestige missions, lawmakers that are largely concerned about maintaining jobs and funding for industry partners, and scientists seeking to prioritize research activities.

NASA got some success: Science missions continue to provide deep insight into our planet and the universe, and the agency has kept the International Space Station operating and continuously occupied for two decades.

But NASA got also a lot of criticism:

Efforts to push human exploration farther into the solar system, to the moon and Mars, have lacked a clear mandate, what NASA has promised.

For instance, a large rocket and spacecraft being built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin respectively have been plagued by delays and mismanagement. Some $50 billion will have been spent by next summer, with little to show for it. #NASAfail

Though private companies have successfully replaced the space shuttle for carrying cargo to the space station, NASA's efforts to fly people to the station have also been delayed.

Outside NASA, some engineers and space advocates argue that the use of commercially available rockets would allow for faster execution of missions. Others believe that abandoning the moon-orbiting way station is key to moving ahead.

The pessimistic consensus around #Artemis (returning to the moon by 2024) could change with a major shift in NASA’s current plans or a surprise boost in public funding for the project. But time is of the essence: 4.5 years is a short time in space engineering.