Keith’s note: In a nutshell, acting/interim/(maybe)actual NASA Administrator Sean Duffy says that SpaceX is behind “schedule” on its Artemis stuff. OK this may well be true. Yet Duffy can’t say when Artemis II, III, etc. will launch i.e. according to a “schedule” with dates etc. or if there’s an actual firm budget to stay on “schedule” or if his new ideas to try other approaches have a “schedule” or if a landing will have a NLT 19 Jan 2029 in its “schedule’. “Notional” won’t get us to the Moon, beat China etc. Just sayin’.
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
Well, unless Trump can show he can run for a third term as President, his second term will come to an end in January 2029. So since he wants a manned Moon landing before the end of his term, that means the landing must occur within 3 1/2 years.
The only vehicle that could possibly be ready by then is Starship. So far there are no signs of a Blue Origin vehicle. No other vehicles have even identified the potential of development.