Even as a triumphant moon flyby primes agency for a 2028 landing, Trump’s proposed budget cuts cast pall on US space program
Even as Integrity, the mission moniker for the Orion capsule of Artemis II, ascended into the heavens days ago, Donald Trump was announcing his intention to slash NASA’s budget by 23%, including a 46% cut for space science initiatives.
And the Artemis program that has run years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget offers no guarantees that the next, far harder stages will run as smoothly.
The Artemis program (more specifically the Space Launch System) is kickbacks for senators in the form of a spaceship that uses components manufactured in every congressional district at a massively inflated cost. It has been in the making since before SpaceX launched their first rocket, facing massive cost overruns (more corruption) and delays (more corruption).