CLEVELAND -- Since the dawn of the space age, Ohio has played a vital role in space exploration. Ohioans were there during the Mercury and Gemini programs, and Ohio was there when humans first orbited the moon during Apollo 8.

Former astronaut Janet Kavandi heads the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Next month marks 50 years since American ingenuity, teamwork and sheer determination overcame several technical challenges to launch Apollo 8 with Cleveland’s own Jim Lovell piloting the pioneering moment in human history.

Today, humans are preparing to return to the moon, and NASA is ready to lead the charge. But, this time it’s not about flags and footprints. This time, we’re going back to stay and to explore in a sustainable way, and it will set us on a course to destinations farther than we have ever traveled.

And Ohioans are again coming along on this exploration journey. Not only as astronauts, but by developing the hardware and technology needed to ensure our successful return and long-term presence on the moon.

But why return to the moon? Well, we need the moon to understand how to live and work on another world. It will help us understand where we’ve been and where we are going. Our moon will serve as a proving ground as we test and validate the infrastructure and technologies needed for those future exploration missions. And it will allow us to understand what we are capable of.

Our next giant leap is back to the moon, but it starts just 250 miles above us with the fundamental research being conducted by NASA astronauts every day on the International Space Station. For 17 years, we have used our presence in low-Earth orbit to understand what is needed to be successful away from the relative safety of our home planet, and we’re ready to move beyond.

Soon NASA, along with our commercial and international partners, will begin to build the Gateway, an orbiting lunar outpost that will serve as an important stepping stone for our lunar science and exploration missions. The Gateway will, over time, evolve into a versatile platform where NASA will develop refueling depots, spacecraft-servicing capabilities, and a facility for processing resource samples from the moon and other celestial bodies in support of science and commerce.

From there, we’ll develop a series of small reusable robotic landers to explore the lunar surface and to identify and to collect the resources found there. By harvesting and transforming the resources found on the moon into breathable oxygen, drinkable water and rocket fuel, we will enhance and extend our exploration capabilities. These smaller landers will eventually lead to larger robotic landers with advanced capabilities, followed by revolutionary human-rated landers.

And none of this would be possible without the backbone of NASA’s future exploration missions – the cutting-edge Orion spacecraft and the powerful Space Launch System rocket. Our new spacecraft, coupled with American commercial launch providers, will provide unmatched capabilities to low-Earth orbit and beyond.

And as it always has, the path to the moon will travel through Ohio – though our towns, our companies, our schools and our people. NASA wouldn’t be where it is today, and we won’t be where we are 50 years from now, without significant contributions from the Buckeye State.

I am proud of the work being done at NASA Glenn and the many aerospace companies across our great state. This is a thrilling time to be involved in space exploration, and I hope you all will join us on this journey as we learn what humankind can do when it comes together to achieve a common goal for the common good.

Janet Kavandi is a veteran astronaut and the director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

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