NASA investigating Trump request for manned mission around moon

Just last week, NASA’s top staff was given instructions to assess the feasibility of sending humans to space with the first flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

The mission was originally designed to be uncrewed, and was set to launch in 2018.

In a press conference on Friday, officials leading the study revealed the evaluations are now well underway, and they’ve already created a “hard, crisp list” of everything that will need to change ‘from a hardware standpoint’ in order to add crew.

But, so far, the team said they’re sticking to their baseline plan for EM-1, and will let the ‘let the data drive’ any decisions moving forward.

In the press call, NASA’s associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Missions Directorate Bill Gerstenmaier explained that the study aims to assess the advantages and disadvantages of adding crew to Em-1.

While they say it could be within the realms of possibility, there are a number of changes that would need to be made to put humans aboard Orion, including the addition of an on board life support system.

For now, they say they ‘are not going to let the feasibility study interrupt’ their plans for Em-1 and Em-2, but the assessment will benefit the overall program either way.

“We aren’t really changing our stance on what Em-1 is, we’re probably still getting it ready to fly by 2018,” Gersternmaier said.

“Overall, we’re still on the baseline plan of Em-1 first, and then Em-2, but this study lets us look at what things we would want to add and what things we would want to change to add crew to the vehicle.”

According to William Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development in Washington, there were early discussions with the transition team regarding accelerating crew capability even before the inauguration.

Sending humans aboard Orion would require a new look at some of the equipment inside, Hill explains.

But, during a media Q&A, the team explained that they feel encouraged by the recent instructions, and 'don't consider this a ton of extra work.'

Ultimately, they say it will make for a “more robust program,” whether its manned or unmanned.

The results are set to be completed early this spring, and the researchers stress that in making any decisions, they will  “let the data drive us and let the information drive us.”

Last week, it was revealed that NASA's acting administrator instructed top staff to dramatically speed up plans to send mankind beyond the orbit of Earth for the first time since 1972.

Robert Lightfoot, who was previously the space agency's acting Associate Administrator, has asked staff to initiate a study to assess the feasibility of adding a crew to Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. 

By moving the manned mission up, commentators say it could give President Trump a “Nixonesque” moment - and also prove the worth of Nasa's SLS megarocket as it vies for funding.

“The SLS and Orion missions, coupled with record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to unlock the mysteries of space and to ensure this nation’s world preeminence in exploring the cosmos,” NASA said. 

The study, headed by Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, will examine the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space.

According to the Washington Post, Lightfoot sent a note to employees revealing the plan, saying: 'I know the challenges associated with such a proposition, like reviewing the technical feasibility, additional resources needed, and clearly the extra work would require a different launch date.

“That said, I also want to hear about the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space.”

Astronauts haven't gone beyond a low orbit around Earth since 1972, when NASA ended its Apollo program. 

Bob Walker, an adviser to the Trump transition team and a former congressman who chaired the House Science Committee, told the Post “What I hear being discussed is the potential for sometime within the first Trump term being able to go and do an Apollo 8 mission” - meaning a lunar orbit mission like the one performed by Apollo 8 in December 1968.