Ivan Seeking
Mar4-04, 04:17 AM
NASA has begun to plot out its escape route from low Earth orbit, putting itself on a return journey back to the Moon, planting footprints on Mars, and heading off to other targets beyond.
In his mid-January space pep rally, President George W. Bush charged the agency with signing up to a new astronautical agenda -- part of which called for extended human missions to the Moon as early as 2015.
Always keen on responding to a White House directive, NASA has done its bureaucratic best by creating Code T: The Office of Exploration Systems. Still in its organizational infancy -- more a flurry of viewgraphs and line charts of authority than actually building things -- the Exploration Systems Enterprise is rapidly taking charge of NASA’s future vision.
Not only NASA has the Moon in sight. Several commercial firms are ready to go the lunar distance too, perhaps giving the Moon the real business - as a tourist Mecca.[continued]
http://space.com/businesstechnology/technology/moonbase_next_040303-1.html
In his mid-January space pep rally, President George W. Bush charged the agency with signing up to a new astronautical agenda -- part of which called for extended human missions to the Moon as early as 2015.
Always keen on responding to a White House directive, NASA has done its bureaucratic best by creating Code T: The Office of Exploration Systems. Still in its organizational infancy -- more a flurry of viewgraphs and line charts of authority than actually building things -- the Exploration Systems Enterprise is rapidly taking charge of NASA’s future vision.
Not only NASA has the Moon in sight. Several commercial firms are ready to go the lunar distance too, perhaps giving the Moon the real business - as a tourist Mecca.[continued]
http://space.com/businesstechnology/technology/moonbase_next_040303-1.html