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  • We last popped up to the moon in 1972.

  • But now, the USA is going to work with Russia to head back to orbit ol' Lunaon the

  • way to Mars.

  • Is your Space Race bone tingling?

  • Right now, the International Space Station is slated to be abandoned by NASA in 2024.

  • And, like Geocities, one day, it will just be a memory, but now we might see what's

  • next

  • A few weeks ago, NASA and Roscosmos announced they'd work together to build theDeep

  • Space Gateway” a space station near the moon offering a “deep space environment

  • for human missions that push further into the solar system.”

  • and tothe lunar surface.”

  • Does this mean we're going back to the moon?!

  • USA (and Russia), USA (and private corporations), USA (if this actually happens, woo!)

  • The gateway is slated to be a public-private partnership where astronauts can try out technologies

  • needed to go into deep space, all while orbiting the moon.

  • That said, NASA's not really given a concrete goal.

  • They're not, like, testing specific things, the announcements just saidnew technologies.”

  • Russia handles docking tech, we've got orbits pretty much lickedlong-term space travel we do on

  • the ISSmaybe a new airlock!

  • And some kind of deep-space transport...

  • They mentionedconfidence...”

  • When it comes to specifics, it's unclear.

  • Proponents of the plan say, we should get really good at moon missions before going

  • to Mars.

  • Meanwhile, opponents say this could tie up resources in Lunar exploration, meaning a

  • trip Mars could disappear into the distant future.

  • The Gateway news should make the Mars-or-Bust crowd nervous, because we were aiming to go

  • to Mars by 2033… but the Gateway won't be fully realized until the late 2020s.

  • Soooooshrug?

  • Going to space and trying new things does drive innovation.

  • What will this new space endeavor bring us?

  • I'm not surewithout a concrete goal, it seems like we're trying out an ISS, only,

  • it's a few days farther away.

  • Space exploration yielded satellite communications, cordless technology, LEDs, solar power, water

  • purification, digital cameras, literally hundreds of things.

  • I hope I live long and prosper, so I can find out if the Gateway can live up to the hype.

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  • We used to spend lots of billions on space travel,

  • so, what would happen if we doubled NASA's budget? Find out here

  • So far, we've spent 65 billion dollars on International Space Station, not actually that much

  • The new F-35 fighter jet? 400 billion.

We last popped up to the moon in 1972.

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