Musk and Bezos Moon Landers Could Leave Artemis Astronauts Stranded, NASA Watchdog Warns | A NASA watchdog has issued a damning report on the Human Landing System program, finding serious problems with its progress, oversight, and testing.
by InsaneSnow45
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>NASA hopes to return astronauts to the Moon by 2028, but building the spacecraft that will take them to the lunar surface is proving to be far more difficult than expected. A new watchdog report warns that the Artemis human lander program is not only facing delays and technical issues but also unresolved crew-safety risks.
>The findings, [published](https://oig.nasa.gov/office-of-inspector-general-oig/audit-reports/nasas-management-of-the-human-landing-system-contracts/) by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General on Tuesday, reveal critical gaps in testing and crew survival analyses for both prospective landers: SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Lander. That’s a serious problem because if either lander encounters a catastrophic event, NASA will not be able to rescue the stranded crew from space or the lunar surface.
>“Without a rescue capability for the Artemis missions, the crew will be lost should the HLS become disabled on the lunar surface or be unable to dock with the awaiting Orion or Gateway in [lunar orbit],” the report states.
>The report comes less than two weeks after NASA overhauled the Artemis program, adding another test flight to prepare for a crewed Moon landing while working to standardize its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for more frequent launches. According to the new schedule, NASA’s Artemis 4 mission will attempt to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028, followed by another crewed landing mission (Artemis 5) potentially that same year.
I mean… not like there was any rescue capability for any of the Apollo missions either.
Well yeah, that’s how you establish a base!
Source: Kerbal Space Program
Every moon lander can have astronauts stranded. In theory you could get redundancy by landign a 2nd reserve lander unmaned on same spot before hand and not sending the crew until the backup chekcs out.
A bit expensive.
Overall architecture was known when those missions were proposed. IMHO the biggest drivers of risk is using for some ungodly reason near rectilinear halo orbit and having no unnamed landing before the maned.