Featured Image Credit: NASA
NASA's latest plans could create the hottest new travel destination, as the US space agency has outlined what dystopian holidays might look like with its vision for a base on the Moon.
Commercial space travel has been an option for those with enough money to afford it for a number of years now, but the prospect of actually vacationing beyond Earth still seemed like a pipe dream.
After all, it has still been over half a century since any astronaut stepped foot on the Moon – Earth's nearest natural satellite – so the opportunity for a regular human to do so seemed near impossible.
That could soon open up, however, thanks to major advancements made by NASA and the wider space world, as plans for a base on the Moon could perhaps bring about the opportunity for a rather dystopian holiday.
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As reported by the Metro, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has just unveiled further details regarding the prospective Moon base, which is expected to be built by 2032 at the latest.
Of course, it requires the space agency to successfully complete it's remaining Artemis missions – the next of which still won't yet get boots on the Moon's surface – but the $20 billion plan for the base has already been fully fleshed out and seems ready to go whenever the opportunity arises.
Announcing the agency's plan's to return America to the Moon, Isaacman outlined:
"For all we hope to accomplish in this endeavour, what we are embarking upon is extremely challenging and we know so little from what is a combined 80 hours of lunar astronaut EVA [extravehicular activity] time across the Apollo missions, and that was more than half a century ago."
He outlined that the base is just the first part of a wider multi-planetary plan, indicating that it exists "to have an environment where we can work with the water, ice, and master the skills for where we go next, which is Mars."
Elon Musk will certainly be happy to hear this news considering the u-turn that saw the government ditch Mars for the Moon in the first place, but a lot has to be achieved on the natural satellite first before the red planet is in NASA's sights.
That first base won't be the only one either, as NASA plans to have multiple outposts and even a flourishing 'space economy' up and running — perhaps opening the door for anyone wanting to travel to and stay on the Moon for a holiday.
The base would need to have the necessary protections against the harsh climate, however, as it can get as hot as 250°C and as cold as -250°C, which is obviously uninhabitable for humans and not something you'd enjoy when trying to relax on vacation.
