Sec. 104. Advanced cislunar and lunar surface capabilities
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It is the sense of Congress that— NASA developed the Artemis program— to fulfill the goal of landing United States astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024; and to collaborate with commercial and international partners to establish sustainable lunar exploration by 2028; and in carrying out the Artemis program, the Administration should ensure that the entire Artemis program is inclusive and representative of all people of the United States, including women and minorities.
The Administrator shall foster the flight demonstration of not more than 2 human-class lunar lander designs through public-private partnerships. The Administrator may support the formulation of more than 2 concepts in the initial development phase. The Administrator shall establish an outpost in orbit around the Moon that— demonstrates technologies, systems, and operational concepts directly applicable to the space vehicle that will be used to transport humans to Mars; has the capability for periodic human habitation; and can function as a point of departure, return, or staging for Administration or nongovernmental or international partner missions to multiple locations on the lunar surface or other destinations.
In carrying out the programs under subsection
(b)and subsection (c), the Administrator shall— enter into industry-led partnerships using a fixed-price, milestone-based approach; to the maximum extent practicable, encourage reusability and sustainability of systems developed; ensure availability of one or more lunar polar science payloads for a demonstration mission; and to the maximum extent practicable, offer existing capabilities and assets of NASA centers to support these partnerships. In carrying out the program under subsection (b), the Administrator shall— to the maximum extent practicable, make use of the Space Launch System, Exploration Upper Stage, Exploration Ground Systems, and associated facilities and infrastructure available for the launch of an integrated Human Landing System; and as space allows, add secondary payload capacity on the Space Launch System to support ongoing Human Landing Systems and Lunar Gateway elements.