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    NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade. A new spacecraft and launch system will transport astronauts to lunar orbit and land on the moon's surface. The spacecraft can carry 4 astronauts and will be reusable up to 10 times. NASA will establish a permanent lunar outpost to practice living off-world resources in preparation for future missions to Mars.

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    NASA 136542main CEV FS Low

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    NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade. A new spacecraft and launch system will transport astronauts to lunar orbit and land on the moon's surface. The spacecraft can carry 4 astronauts and will be reusable up to 10 times. NASA will establish a permanent lunar outpost to practice living off-world resources in preparation for future missions to Mars.

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    NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade. A new spacecraft and launch system will transport astronauts to lunar orbit and land on the moon's surface. The spacecraft can carry 4 astronauts and will be reusable up to 10 times. NASA will establish a permanent lunar outpost to practice living off-world resources in preparation for future missions to Mars.

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    NASA 136542main CEV FS Low

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    NASAdocuments
    NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade. A new spacecraft and launch system will transport astronauts to lunar orbit and land on the moon's surface. The spacecraft can carry 4 astronauts and will be reusable up to 10 times. NASA will establish a permanent lunar outpost to practice living off-world resources in preparation for future missions to Mars.

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    National Aeronautics and Space Administration

    How We’ll Get Back to the Moon


    Before the end of the next decade, NASA astronauts will again Coupled with the new lunar lander, the system sends twice as
    explore the surface of the moon. And this time, we’re going to many astronauts to the surface as Apollo, and they can stay
    stay, building outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys twice as long. And while Apollo was limited to landings along the
    to Mars and beyond. There are echoes of the iconic images of moon’s equator, the new ship carries enough propellant to land
    the past, but it won’t be your grandfather’s moon shot. anywhere on the moon’s surface.

    This journey begins soon, with the development of a new Once a lunar outpost is established, the crew could remain on
    spaceship. Building on the best of Apollo and shuttle technology, the lunar surface indefinitely. The spacecraft can also operate
    NASA’s creating a 21st century exploration system that will be without a crew in lunar orbit, eliminating the need for one astro-
    affordable, reliable, versatile, and safe. naut to stay behind while others explore the surface.

    Safe and reliable


    The launch system that will get the crew off the ground builds
    on powerful, reliable shuttle propulsion elements. Astronauts
    will launch on a rocket made up of a single shuttle solid rocket
    booster, with a second stage powered by a shuttle main engine.

    A second, heavy-lift system uses a pair of longer solid rocket


    boosters and five shuttle main engines to put up to 125
    metric tons in orbit—about one and a half times the weight
    of a shuttle orbiter. This versatile system will be used to carry
    cargo and to put the components needed to go to the moon
    and Mars into orbit. The heavy-lift rocket can be modified to
    carry crew as well.

    NASA’s new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), Best of all, these launch systems
    with solar panels deployed, docked with a are 10 times safer than the shuttle
    The centerpiece lander in lunar orbit. (Artist’s concept by John because of an escape rocket
    of this system is on top of the capsule that can
    Frassanito and Associates.)
    a new spacecraft quickly blast the crew away if
    designed to deliver launch problems develop. There’s
    crew and supplies to the International Space Station, carry four also little chance of damage from
    astronauts to and from the moon, and support up to six crew- debris, since the capsule sits on
    members on future missions to Mars. top of the rocket.

    The new crew vehicle will be shaped like an Apollo capsule, but it
    will be three times larger, allowing four astronauts to travel to the
    moon at a time.

    The new spacecraft has solar panels to provide power, and both
    the capsule and the lunar lander use liquid methane in their
    engines. Why methane? NASA’s thinking ahead, planning for a
    day when future astronauts can convert Martian resources into
    methane fuel.

    The new ship can be reused up to 10 times. After the craft para-
    chutes to dry land (with a splashdown as a backup option), NASA An engineering concept shows new
    can easily recover it, replace the heat shield, and launch it again.
    heavy-lift and crew launch vehicles.
    (Credit: NASA)
    The Flight Plan “Into the Cosmos”

    In just 5 years, the new ship will be ready to ferry crew and sup- With a minimum of two lunar missions per year, momentum will
    plies to the international space station. Plans call for as many as build quickly toward a permanent outpost. Crews will stay longer
    six trips to the outpost a year. In the meantime, robotic missions and learn to exploit the moon’s resources, while landers make
    will lay the groundwork for lunar exploration. In 2018, humans one-way trips to deliver cargo. Eventually, the new system could
    will return to the moon. Here’s how a mission would unfold: rotate crews to and from a lunar outpost every 6 months.

    Planners are already looking at the lunar south pole as a can-


    didate for an outpost because of high hydrogen content, the
    A heavy-lift rocket blasts off, carrying a lunar lander and a “departure possible presence of water ice, and an abundance of sunlight to
    stage” needed to leave Earth’s orbit (top). The crew launches separately provide power.

    (middle), then docks their capsule with the lander and departure stage
    These plans give NASA a huge head start in getting to Mars. We
    and heads for the moon (bottom). will already have the heavy-lift system needed to get there, as well
    as a versatile crew capsule and propulsion systems that can make
    use of Martian resources. A lunar outpost just 3 days away from
    Earth will give us needed practice of “living off the land” away from
    our home planet, before making the longer trek to Mars.

    NASA is embarking on this robust exploration program to ad-


    vance our Nation’s scientific, security, and economic interests.
    In conducting missions to the moon, Mars and beyond, NASA
    will help fuel American creativity, innovation, and technology
    development. Indeed, throughout NASA’s history, technologies
    developed to advance our exploration missions have been pro-
    ductively utilized to boost economic progress and benefit millions
    of people here on Earth. On a broader level, civilization’s expan-
    sion into space is a continuation of the ancient human imperative
    to explore, discover and understand, and to settle new territory
    when it becomes possible to do so.

    As President Bush said when he announced the Vision for Space


    Exploration, “Humans are headed into the cosmos.” Now we
    know how we’ll get there.

    For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration.

    Three days later, the crew jettisons the departure stage and goes into lunar
    orbit (top). The four astronauts climb into the lander, leaving the capsule
    to wait for them in orbit. After landing and exploring the surface for seven
    days, the crew blasts off in the top half of the lander (bottom left), docks
    with the capsule and travels back to Earth, where the capsule deploys
    parachutes and sets down on dry land (bottom right).

    www.nasa.gov

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