Nasa eyeing next challenge already after successful Artemis II mission

Saying things are on track is a pretty optimistic view point. The next mission is supposed to be a year from now testing the Orion space capsule with a lunar lander but no lunar lander is functional yet. My understanding is that it was originally just supposed to be SpaceX as the lunar lander but since they are behind schedule NASA has opened up the opportunity again to alternatives but that doesn’t mean any alternatives are ready.

Just gotta get the exit valve on the shitter working...

I mean the current admin is trying to cut NASA's budget so things could very easily get off track

The bigger point is that the White House throws out big NASA cuts, then Congress rewrites them anyway, just like it did during Trump’s first term with Artemis II. Artemis III was already funded during Biden, and the supposed cuts mostly affect Artemis IV and V, but there is a good chance Congress pushes the full budget through like last time.

How is he going to do that next year if he doesn't control Congress?

Considering anyone else Trump could have put in that position, the space community is pretty relieved it was Isaacman.

He's going to have an interesting time trying that if Democrats take the House in November. And an even worse time at it if they somehow take the Senate too.

That's their next challenge. Getting money.

NASA is going to deliver what Congress tells it to deliver.

americans are super sensitive about death thats why

The Artemis program is extremely aggressive. It took apollo 12 missions before they actually attempted to land on the moon, because they needed to test different parts of the mission at each step along the way. Artemis 2 is roughly analogous to Apollo 8 (a very broad comparison but accurate enough for purposes of this discussion). For the next mission the plan is to get the lunar lander (which they haven't selected yet) into orbit, fuel it up in space, connect it with the Orion spacecraft and flying that all around the moon. so that's multiple huge portions of the mission that they're trying to complete all in one mission. If they actually pull that off it will be a mind-bogglingly impressive feat. There are valid criticisms of the Artemis program, but this is not one of them.

They're testing this experimental prototype what do you want from them? The space shuttle was retired so they've had to make a whole new system and because of the issues with the shuttle program they've gone back to a capsule style system that we used during the Apollo program. They've got to relearn this stuff over again and create an entirely new machine. That machine requires tests, the first was unmanned the second was manned. How can you possibly be upset that they aren't doing more? These things take time, if you're upset and live the USA, maybe write a letter to your local politician and request they increase funding and support for NASA?

Imagine it's 1969 and you're saying this about ten USELESS Apollo missions.

What a silly comment. Imagine someone you care about aboard those missions and NASA not doing everything in its power to assure success. Additionally, this country is too fragile right now to have another space tragedy. Something like Columbia would likely lead to them scrapping Artemis programs all together.

You sound like a lot of fun at get togethers...humans just traveled the furthest they ever have and thats useless? Seems pretty cool to like 99.9% of the population. I don't think I've ever seen anyone this excited about NASA and Space in a long time.

Ya can’t land on the moon.