NASA outlines ambitious $20 billion plan for moon base

With the Artemis 2 around-the-moon launch just eight days away, NASA announced ambitious long-range plans Tuesday to spend $20 billion over the next seven years to build a moon base near the lunar south pole featuring habitats, pressurized rovers and nuclear power systems.

"This revised, step-by-step approach to learn, to build muscle memory, to bring down risk and gain confidence is exactly how NASA achieved the near impossible in the 1960s," he said, referring to the agency's Apollo program.

"Today, we are providing a demand for frequent crewed missions well beyond (previously announced moon landings in 2028). We intend to work with no fewer than two launch providers with the aim of crewed landings every six months, with additional opportunities for new entrants in the years ahead. America will never again give up the moon.