NASA: Humans Can Live on the Moon in the Next 10 Years

JAKARTA - NASA's Artemis Moon Mission is not just about bringing humans back to Earth's natural satellite in the coming years, but they also have plans to make people stay there for a long time.

Program leader for NASA's Orion spacecraft, Howard Hu, said humans could live on the Moon for the next 10 years.

"We will send people to the surface and they will live on the surface and do science (research). It is very important for us to study a little bit beyond our Earth orbit and then make big steps when we go to Mars," Hu said in his interview with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC Sunday.

Hu hopes to put the plan into action after confirming the safety of the Artemis rocket components and systems.

In addition, Hu also stated that the Artemis mission launched last Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, United States (US) was a historic day for human spaceflight, after years of delays and costing billions.

"This is the first step we have taken for long-term space exploration, not only for the US but also for the world," said Hu.

"And I think it's a historic day for NASA, but it's also a historic day for everyone who loves human spaceflight and deep space exploration," he added.

In that mission, a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket propelled the empty crew capsule Orion into a wide orbit around the moon, and then the capsule will return to Earth with a landing in the Pacific on December 11.

"I mean, we are going back to the Moon, we are working towards a sustainable program and this is the vehicle that will bring people that will land us back on the Moon again," Hu said.

Citing The Mirror, Monday, November 21, after this successful flight, NASA then plans to send four astronauts around the Moon in 2024, and land humans there as early as 2025.

NASA hopes to establish a base on the Moon and send astronauts to Mars in the late 2030s or early 2040s. But there are still many hurdles to be overcome. Orion will only carry astronauts to lunar orbit, not to the surface.

In addition, NASA has also hired Elon Musk's SpaceX to develop Starship, the 21st century answer to the Apollo moon landers.

Starship will carry astronauts back and forth between Orion and the lunar surface on its first trip in 2025. The plan is to put Starship and eventually another company's lander in orbit around the Moon.