In recent weeks, the official NASA representatives were actively promoting the proposed “Gateway”, which will serve as a space station on a remote orbit, near the moon. The Agency has proposed that intermediate step, instead of returning directly to the lunar surface with people. The Agency is even beginning to consider the Gateway as a “space ship” because it sounds even cooler than “station”.
Mike Griffin, former NASA administrator under President George W. Bush, asked what he thinks about these plans. Currently, Griffin works as the Deputy Secretary of defense for research and development, and he did not hesitate in expressions.
“Stupid architecture”
“I think 2028 is so late that the plan should not even be put on the table. This date does not show that the US is a leader somewhere. Now 2018. It took us eight years to get to the moon for the first time, and now you want to tell me what we need ten, twelve or fourteen years to do it again when we know how to do it? I give up”.
Griffin booed the concept of Gateway, saying that it makes no sense to build a lunar station until, until there is a technical necessity of the existence of such a station.
“The architecture you want to enter, create a Gateway before we set foot on the lunar surface, from the point of view of the engineer space systems — architecture, stupid,” he says. “The gateway will be useful when — but not before — we will produce fuel on the moon and bring it to the depot in lunar orbit. We had to hurry back to the moon and learn to use the resources closest object to Earth.”
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