--- title: "NASA Unveils Flabbergasting Budget For Moon Missions" description: "NASA is yet on another budget crunch in its efforts to realize the Trump administration's ambitious plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024." date: "2020-09-22" modified: "2020-09-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-unveils-flabbergasting-moon-budget" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "artemis" - "jim bridenstine" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # NASA Unveils Flabbergasting Budget For Moon Missions ![NASA is yet on another budget crunch in its efforts to realize the Trump administration's ambitious plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.]() *\Image: Blue Origin\* ## $28 Billion NASA is in the throes of [yet another budget crunch]() in its efforts to realize the Trump administration's ambitious plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024. Unsurprisingly, that project will be extremely expensive. The agency just revealed a $28 billion price tag for its Artemis program, [*Agence France-Presse* reports](), covering NASA's needs for the next five years. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told journalists on Monday that Congress would need to approve $3.2 billion, the first tranche, by Christmas in order to still be "on track for a 2024, moon landing." ## Budget Breakdown $16 billion would be spent on just the lunar landing module, according to *AFP*. Currently, three companies are developing lunar landers for the space agency, including Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics. Bridenstine also alluded to "political risks," including the November presidential election, which could potentially undermine NASA's work to get astronauts back to the Moon, *AFP* reports. ## The Artemis Missions Pending budgetary approvals, NASA is planning to launch its first uncrewed flight around the Moon, Artemis I, in November 2021. Artemis II will be a crewed mission to the Moon, but will not include a landing. Bridenstine sought to put the missions into historical context. "The science that we would be doing is really very different than anything we've done before," said Bridenstine. "We have to remember during the Apollo era, we thought the moon was bone dry," he added. "Now we know that there's lots of water ice and we know that it's at the South Pole." **READ MORE:** [NASA plans for return to Moon to cost $28 billion]() \[*AFP*\] **More on Artemis:** *[NASA Has Figured Out a New Way to Safely Land on the Moon]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()