NASA Plans a Return to the Moon |
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Written by spacetravel.org
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Friday, 16 September 2005 20:34 |
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On Wednesday, September 14, NASA presented its plan to put humans back on the Moon by 2018 to senior White House officials. The plan, called the Exploration Systems Architecture study, will cost $100 billion. NASA plans to land four astronauts on the Moon for a seven-day stay.
The plan, which has been in development since April, entails building a 5 ½ meter blunt body crew capsule and using launchers built from major space shuttle components.
NASA wishes to demonstrate that astronauts can live on lunar resources, using them to produce fuel, drinkable water and other commodities. These capabilities would be necessary for a human expedition to Mars, which would require at least 500 days spent on the planets surface because of the long distances involved.
Details of the plan will be announced to the general public at a press conference on Monday.
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