US Congress pushes NASA to reconsider Moon mission

Ars Technica : As the end of President Obama’s term draws near, the US Congress is working to encourage NASA to forgo its proposed 2025 asteroid visit and instead reconsider a human mission to the Moon. A bipartisan effort in the House of Representatives is being led by Mike Honda (D-CA) and Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), who are promoting a lunar mission as the best proving ground for a mid 2030s Mars mission. Because of the ever-increasing costs of the asteroid project, it has had to be scaled back several times—from sending astronauts to visit an asteroid in deep space, to bringing an asteroid to a location near the Moon, and finally to just grabbing a small boulder from an asteroid’s surface and bringing that back near the Moon. Legislators feel that a lunar mission is not only more attainable but also necessary to remain competitive with other nations, such as Russia and China, and to provide opportunities for the nascent commercial space industry.