"It's time to consider alternatives for going to the Earth, to the moon and back." Pace said. "Ideally, NASA should be able to buy heavy lift services to send humans to the moon. A revised Artemis campaign plan should be a high priority for the new administrator."

A new mission designed to better understand the heliosphere will be the first to map in three dimensions how the solar corona becomes the solar wind.

If federal employees want to space out from their jobs,’ Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told The Post, ‘they need to refund the American people for every last penny.’

Intuitive Machines second NASA-backed lunar lander mission will deliver scientific instruments to hunt for water under the moon's surface.

NASA will send Intuitive Machines lunar lander atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center. You can livestream on iPhone, Android, YouTube

NASA is a methodical institution that plans its missions years or even decades in advance, enjoys a famously loyal workforce and carries out its tasks with the kind of precision required to hurl humans into orbit, drive rovers on Mars or build telescopes that can see nearly to the dawn of time.

NASA had cut a deal that may stave off sweeping layoffs seen across other federal agencies, but still will see about 900 fewer employees through a buyout plan, according to an agency statement.

A SpaceX launch of Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission of the lunar lander Athena lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday night.