NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said yesterday (February 14th) that the space agency is speeding up its plans to return to the moon, which will be done using private companies, telling reporters, “It’s important that we get back to the moon as fast as possible,” and that he hopes astronauts will be there by 2028.

NASA plans to build a small space station in the moon’s orbit that will act as a way-station for trips to and from the lunar surface. Bridenstine said, “This time, when we go to the moon, we’re actually going to stay.” President Trump signed a Space Policy Directive in 2017 that has the goal of returning to the moon before a manned mission to Mars, possibly in the 2030s.