ESA has all but given its full support to the (newly renamed) Lunar Gateway, and Terry Virts threw some criticism its way during the third meeting of the National Space Council. I break down what those things mean for the future of Lunar Gateway, and discuss why I’m (gasp!) supportive of the program.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Brian, Russell, John, Moritz, Tyler, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Barbara, Stan, Mike, David, Mints, and seven anonymous—and 174 other supporters on Patreon.

• A milestone in securing ESA’s future role in the global exploration of space / Exploration / Human Spaceflight / Our Activities / ESA
• Meeting of the National Space Council - YouTube
• Op-ed: The Deep Space Gateway would shackle human exploration, not enable it | Ars Technica
• Former astronaut criticizes lunar gateway plans - SpaceNews.com
• Off-Nominal 09 - Randomly Throwing Money Out Into the Cosmos
• Off-Nominal 07 - FLying Around Mars Imaging aNd Geography Observatory
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