Apollo to Artemis

On Friday, I interviewed astronaut Jeanette Epps, who could be the first woman to step foot on the moon, and NASA CFO Jeff DeWit, who manages an annual budget of over $20 billion. We discussed Artemis, NASA's mission to return to the moon and eventually plant a flag on Mars.

Changes since Apollo 11: An iPhone has more computing power than NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer used in the original moon landing mission. DeWit reminded me that we landed on the moon before luggage had wheels. Epps added, "What they did in the '60s—it was absolutely phenomenal and they made it look easy. It's still really hard."

Economics: It cost about $235 billion to first get humans to the moon, DeWit said. While it'll be cheaper this time, NASA's budget has gone from a peak of over 4% of the federal budget to under 0.5% today. To return to the moon by 2024, NASA needs more funding, Epps and DeWit agreed.

Private sector: Both welcomed the boom in private sector space activity. DeWit said NASA's job is to develop cutting-edge technologies that "aren't economically feasible right now" and "hand them off to American industry" when they are.

• For example...NASA can resupply the International Space Station by buying a SpaceX launch "as a service off the shelf," DeWit said. And it's cheaper.

Getting young Americans on board: Epps said it's tough to reach the new generation, especially when American kids would rather be YouTubers than astronauts. But Apollo 11 had generational spillovers, prompting many young people to pursue careers in STEM. "Once we go back to the moon," Epps said, "and start showing things—maybe do a YouTube movie," it will have the same effect.