FOR OUR TOWNHALL VIP SUPPORTERS: Artemis I Was a Complete Success, but About That Followup Mission…

It’s probably gonna be a couple of years.

Back when NASA was much more serious about timetables, there wasn’t much time wasted between spaceflights. The Saturn V rocket that took men to Luna from 1969-72, had its first unmanned test flight in November of 1967. The first crewed flight took place just 13 months later. Those 13 months included half of a two-year delay in manned space flight after the tragic Apollo 1 launchpad fire that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee during a rehearsal.

By every account, Artemis I succeeded in every way during a much more difficult and intricate mission than Apollo 4. So why can’t NASA get Artemis II off the ground probably any sooner than 2025? “I would say that we’re going to try our best to get there,” in 2024, Orion program director Howard Hu told space reporter Eric Burger last week, but don’t count on it.

There are two causes for the long delay: one structural and one cultural.

Much more at the link.