Culligan on NPR: Is Trump preparing to cancel America's ride back to the moon?

“NASA has already invested about $40 billion in Artemis. The project was slated to send astronauts around the moon by April 2026 with Artemis II, followed by a lunar landing in 2027. However, delays in the development of the SLS and problems with the Orion crew capsule's heat shield have repeatedly pushed back timetables.

“Despite those delays, "we have never been closer since 1972 to being at the moon with astronauts from America," says Thomas Culligan, a consultant and former aerospace lobbyist. "I think people don't realize just how far along we are into these missions."

…

"It's hard to imagine that this president, who established the Artemis program during his first term, would not want to send the first American astronauts to orbit the moon since Apollo," says Culligan.

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/19/g-s1-49451/artemis-moon-nasa-sls-rocket-doge-musk