Allegedly, purportedly, America plans to send NASA astronauts back to the Moon sometime in early 2028 as part of its historic Artemis 4 mission. But at the moment, critical details like what kind of spacesuits those explorers might actually wear and what lunar lander might actually deliver them down to the Moon’s South Pole remain just a little bit vague.

The situation behind the scenes now sounds like it might be shifting from merely concerning to almost farcical, judging from comments made last Thursday by former NASA astronaut Charlie Precourt, a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel ( ASAP ).…