NASA pledges to land first woman on moon by 2024

NASA hopes to have a woman go where no woman has gone before — the moon.

NASA officials gave an update on its Artemis program this week.

Starting with Neil Armstrong’s landing on July 20, 1969, every astronaut who has set foot on the moon, all 12 of them, have been men, CNN reported.

The final man to walk on the moon happened in 1972. The U.S. hasn’t been back since, History reported.

In December 2017, President Donald Trump signed his Space Policy Directive 1, urging NASA to go back to the moon for “long-term exploration and use” and using it as a jumping-off point for other planetary missions, CNN reported.

The agency is looking for $28 billion through 2025 for Phase 1 of the Artemis mission, CNN reported.

The Artemis I mission is scheduled to launch next year as a test flight around the moon, but will not be a manned mission.

NASA also plans to use robots to deliver “dozens of new science investigations and technology demonstrations” to the moon twice next year.

Artemis II will be a manned mission set to launch in 2023 before Artemis III takes astronauts to the moon’s surface, NASA said.

For more on the Artemis program and its missions, click here.

Cox Media Group