On December 11th, exactly 45 years since the astronauts from Apollo 17 last walked on the Moon, Donald Trump issued an important order to bring humans back to our Moon.
Donald Trump speaking about his space exploration plans - Source: Media Buzz YouTube Channel
At the moment president Trump hasn’t announced any specific dates for his new space exploration goals. But some were foreshadowed by David Kring. The preparation for the first automated lunar rover will take less than a year. But then a whole series of them must follow.
NASA is counting on sending their new spaceship Orion around the Moon in 2019. The new gigantic rocket SLS should bring it into space. Just four years later should Orion take four astronauts to look at the Moon from its orbit.
Additionally, plans for the Deep Space Gateway – a space station – should be sent to the Moon’s orbit. This space station will not be permanently manned but occasionally four astronauts will serve their to either do research about the Moon or serve as a transitional station for taking cargo to the moon. Later on, it should become sort of a transfer station for lunar astronauts. DSG will be built by NASA and the international community.
Then in years 2030 – 2035 should 5 places to build a permanent base be selected by scientists. But we don’t know when the building will begin. It is also not out of the question that private companies will want to be a part of this. The CEO of Boeing Dennis Muilenburg said in December that he believes the race to get people to Mars is between Boeing and SpaceX.
Sources:
https://www.ft.com/content/90c01842-debe-11e7-a8a4-0a1e63a52f9c
https://technet.idnes.cz/trump-vesmir-mars-mesic-zakladna-d4o-/tec_vesmir.aspx?c=A171212_170922_tec_vesmir_kuz