In 1972, American astronaut Eugene Cernan became the twelfth and final person to walk on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission — the last moon landing mission of NASA’s Apollo program.
Forty-eight years later, NASA is ready to return to the moon once again and this time it’ll be one giant leap for woman kind.
As CNN reported, NASA has announced plans to send the very first woman and the next man to the moon by the year 2024 as part of a program that calls for $28 billion in funding to succeed.
The updated plans for the moonwalk were released by the U.S. agency earlier this week and outline the details of this history-making mission.

The Artemis plan (named after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo) explains that NASA has set 2024 as its goal for sending astronauts to the moon in an effort to prepare for the “next greatest leap” — human exploration of Mars.
“With bipartisan support from Congress, our 21st century push to the Moon is well within America’s reach,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement . “We’re going back to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits and inspiration for a new generation of explorers.”
As per the mission, there will be three flights taken to the moon.
The Orion Spacecraft and the the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket being built by Boeing for the moon mission will launch first in 2021 without a crew as part of Artemis-1 and will act as a test flight around the moon. Artemis-2 will see a second launch in 2023, this time piloted, for a 10-day loop around the moon again.
Then, in 2024, Artemis-III will fly astronauts to the moon aboard the Orion before boarding NASA’s new commercial human landing system to land on the lunar South Pole.
Once they’ve landed on the moon, astronauts will spend over nearly a week collecting samples and conducting various experiments.

Also outlined in the Artemis plan is the astronauts’ search for resources, such as water, which can be potentially be extracted and converted into oxygen and fuel.
Those astronauts will wear modern spacesuits to allow for greater flexibility and movement than those worn during previous Apollo missions.
The Artemis Mission’s Phase 1 budget will cost $28 billion through the 2025 fiscal year, including $3.2 billion required from Congress.
$1 billion of that budget will go directly towards the development of the new human landing system which will transport the astronauts to the lunar surface in 2024.
Another $651 million will be used to support the Orion Spacecraft and the SLS rocket.
This mission will mark the very first time a woman has ever stepped foot on the lunar surface.
“As part of its Artemis program, NASA plans to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 and establish a sustainable presence there by the end of the decade,” NASA said in the statement .
Only 12 people have ever completed a moonwalk, all of them American men. According to its list , NASA currently has 16 active female astronauts.
In 2019, NASA Administrator Bridenstine said the agency may already have a woman in mind for the Artemis mission.

“It will be somebody who has proven, somebody who has flown, somebody who has been on the International Space Station already,” he told CNN . “We’re looking for, of course, the most qualified candidates, and we have some amazingly talented and highly qualified candidates.”
h/t: NASA Plan Artemis , NASA Press Release , CNN
Last Updated on September 23, 2020 by Caitlyn Clancey