spacetoday.net: NASA foresees late 2020s human return to Moon

Posted: Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 3:36 PM ET (2036 GMT)
NASA's lunar plans foresee humans returning to the lunar surface in the late 2020s. In a speech Tuesday, NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot said that the agency's lunar exploration plans would allow landings by NASA astronauts, as well as those from international partners, in the latter part of the 2020s. The 2019 budget proposal, which funds development of a Lunar Orbiting Platform - Gateway and initial robotic landers, is based on the 45-day plan that NASA developed after the first meeting of the National Space Council in October. Lightfoot said he also anticipated "a great discussion" with Congress on the future of the ISS based on plans in the proposal, opposed by some key members of Congress, to end NASA funding of the station in the mid-2020s.