Matt Miller

Many of the programs that are needed for Artemis are spread across the entire United States and provide a lot of jobs for constituents.

While the Artemis 2 mission is coming up, Artemis 3, Artemis 4, Artemis 5 are all a bit of open question marks at the moment.

There's development that needs to happen for hardware, notably with the landers that will actually take the humans to the surface of the moon.

NASA is pulling out all the stops with its contractors to ensure that a landing occurs no later than 2028, but it remains to be seen if that date will actually be possible.

You can watch the full episode online or on the Bloomberg Terminal.

And whenever I'm wondering about space, I just watch this show because Ed Ludlow and Lauren Grush know more about going to space than anybody else.

Let's talk right now, though, about what to expect from this historic mission tomorrow, what it means for America's broader space ambitions.

For that, we're joined by...

Esne Uzo-Okoro, she is a senior fellow at the Harvard Belfer Center, but also a former NASA executive and a former assistant director for space policy at the White House under the Biden administration.

And Esne, thanks so much for joining us.

Why do we have to go up there and fly around?

I mean, we've already been to the moon.

We've already landed on it.

Can't we just send another ship up there and go back?

Half a century on, I mean, when we first did this, a computer that could do as much as my iPhone wouldn't even fit in this studio.

I mean, we've had such incredible technological advances that it seems to me it should be a lot easier this time, but I'm getting the sense that that's not the case.

I have to say $4 billion sounds like a drop in the bucket from a government that spends like $170 billion to fund ICE.

But I guess it depends what your priorities are.

What do we get in return for that money, Esenay?

What's the benefit coming out of this program?