The Lunar Gateway, a leap forward... or a 'moondoggle' in process?
from article - In about three years, if all goes as planned, the American government will launch a cylinder-shaped module 250,000 miles into space and insert it into orbit around the moon. Next will come another capsule, then another, all to be joined into a human habitat orbiting as close as 1,000 miles to the lunar surface. On one end will be two massive wings with solar panels; on the other, a docked spacecraft that will shuttle humans back and forth between the moon and Earth.
The Lunar Gateway is the biggest single project on NASA’s agenda, and the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s promised plan to go to the moon, and eventually to explore deeper reaches of the solar system and beyond. It would be the first permanent human presence outside of low Earth orbit, and it is designed to serve many purposes: to host science experiments, to resupply missions to the moon’s surface, and to serve as a stop-off point where astronauts can board long-term missions to deep space, including someday to Mars. Current plans call for astronauts to move in to the station’s first phase around 2024 and soon thereafter start traveling regularly to the moon's surface, marking a new era in the halting but dramatic story of human progress off our home planet.
