NASA races to have the first moon base and nuclear-propulsion spacecraft

NASA unveiled ambitious plans to establish a permanent moon base by 2030 and launch the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft in 2028, with an estimated $20 billion investment over seven years. The agency will conduct dozens of robotic moon missions to build infrastructure near the lunar south pole, while the Space Reactor-1 Freedom spacecraft will demonstrate nuclear propulsion technology on a journey to Mars, carrying helicopter-like rotorcraft to scout the planet's surface and identify future human landing sites.