SANDUSKY, Ohio — A manned mission to the moon by 2024; that is the goal of NASA's new Artemis project.
Much work to achieve that goal is being done right here in northwest Ohio.
Wednesday at the NASA Glenn Research Center, Plum Brook station in Sandusky, Representative Marcy Kaptur and Senator Rob Portman got to see firsthand at how the facilities in our area will help put Americans back on the moon.
"And that is what America has always been, she's always reaching for a new frontier whether it be in space, or whether it be in healthcare, and in so many other arenas that we can think of," said Representative Kaptur.
NASA aims to launch the first unmanned mission, Artemis 1, in 2020 which will then be followed by a manned crew in 2022 in Artemis 2 and then finally, landing on the moon in 2024.
Along with 124 Ohio companies supplying parts or services to the Artemis project, the new initiative to build a manned space station on the moon to act as a launching off point to a manned mission on Mars injected new life into this old NASA facility.
"I think that's really exciting. International partners, commercial partners. The result for this area is more jobs, more investment, and that's been great," said Senator Portman.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said the work done on the future station on the moon will act as a proving ground on how to establish a more permanent presence on Mars in the future.
The testing for the new Orion capsule will be performed at this facility in Sandusky will be vital to the operations success.
"Without what happens at Glenn and Plum Brook, we would not be able to get to the moon, and certainly we couldn't go to Mars. The moon is the proving ground, Mars is the destination, that's where we're going," said Bridenstine.
The Orion capsule will be on site at the Plum Brook station for testing in September leading up to the Artemis 1 launch in 2020.