upcoming Artemis II flight<\/a> around the moon by four astronauts as soon as April 1. Those living near Florida’s Kennedy Space Center will watch the launch from their backyards.<\/p>\n\u201cBecause it was the first time, there was an energy. There was a passion that probably is not exactly the same today and hasn\u2019t been for a while,\u201d said Charlie Mars, 90, who worked on Apollo\u2019s command and lunar modules and helped establish the American Space Museum in nearby Titusville.<\/p>\n
Retired engineer JoAnn Morgan is still fuming that the last three Apollo moon landings were canceled under President Richard Nixon\u2019s watch because of budget cuts, risk concerns and shifting priorities. She was the lone woman inside launch control when Apollo 11\u2019s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins rocketed to the moon in 1969. Three years later, Apollo 17 closed out the grand era.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to stay alive so I can see us actually get back and step foot on the moon,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m 85 and still feeling cheated after 53 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan isn\u2019t the only one frustrated with NASA\u2019s \u2014 and the nation\u2019s \u2014 dawdling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing I\u2019m not in charge,\u201d Mars said, \u201cbecause I would be out there beating the bushes and whipping up on people to get moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
One big difference this time are all the women in key roles.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Artemis launch director is Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. The Artemis II crew includes Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman \u2014 328 consecutive days in orbit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be even greater when they actually have a woman who plants her boots on the moon,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n
Apollo 16\u2019s Charlie Duke points out that half the world\u2019s population was not yet born when he walked on the moon in 1972.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s new administrator Jared Isaacman, a tech billionaire who paid his own way to space twice, is one of them.<\/p>\n
Apollo\u2019s old-timers are heartened that the 43-year-old Isaacman is accelerating the pace of Artemis launches to more closely match Apollo\u2019s speed and safety record. Artemis has been trudging along at a once-every-three-years flight rate, which Isaacman deems unacceptable.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s added a test flight in orbit around Earth to practice docking with lunar landers before they\u2019re used to put astronauts on the moon. And last week, he released a blueprint for a moon base that, along with a battalion of lunar drones and rovers, is expected to cost $20 billion over the next seven years.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s self-described \u201cmoon base guy,\u201d Carlos Garcia-Galan, promises \u201ccool cameras\u201d on everything to ramp up excitement.<\/p>\n
In the near term, the overriding goal is to beat the Chinese to the lunar surface. NASA aims to land astronauts in 2028, China by 2030.<\/p>\n
The U.S. trounced the Soviet space program in the first race to the moon, landing 12 astronauts from 1969 through 1972.<\/p>\n
John Tribe, 90, who managed spacecraft propulsion for Apollo, considers NASA’s revised Artemis plan \u201ca whole lot more sensible.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe other approach was ridiculous,\u201d Tribe said. \u201cWhether we\u2019re going to beat the Chinese back, I don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apollo 9’s Rusty Schweickart also likes the refashioned Artemis. As for topping Apollo’s excitement, though, good luck.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can all recall Columbus,\u201d Schweickart said in an email, but who can remember \u201cwho came along 50 years afterward?\u201d<\/p>\n
One of only four moonwalkers still alive, Duke anticipates the thrill of Apollo will return once Artemis astronauts start landing, especially for the younger crowd that missed out before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the first ones are successful and we start landing at the south pole,\u201d Duke said, \u201cI think millions are going to be watching that. I know I will if I\u2019m still here.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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