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NASA rejects Trump's request for manning space rocket
In February, the President Trump asked NASA to look into the possibility of manning the Space Launch System, which is scheduled to launch in a year and a half, a request that was turned down by NASA managers, citing technical risks.
New York: NASA will be launching its Space Launch System in 2019, but has ruled out putting a crew on board.
In February, the President Trump asked NASA to look into the possibility of manning the Space Launch System, which is scheduled to launch in a year and a half, a request that was turned down by NASA managers, citing technical risks, The New York Times reported.
The spacecraft which has been designed to eventually send astronauts to Mars represents a robust foundation for ultimately moving human presence out into the solar system but, NASA's Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot said his space agency concluded - alongside White House officials - that their initial "baseline plan was best", which would mean "leaving [the rocket] EM-1 unmanned".
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But it would have cost an extra £465 million ($600 million) to £698 million ($900 million) to put humans on-board, funds the space agency does not have.
The new big new rocket- Space Launch System is a heavy lift rocket for deep space missions and will be an unmanned three week mission that will go thousands of miles past the moon.
President Trump even joked during a video chat with two space station crew members, about launching astronauts to Mars " during my first tenure, at least, during my second term." (ANI)