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POSTCARDS FROM THE FUTURE Sometime in the near future, humankind will set foot again on the Moon. As part of NASA's New Vision for Space Exploration, they will build a permanent base on the moon, to test, research and invent new technologies for manned missions to Mars and beyond. The task will not be easy - there will be danger and hardships and broken lives, but these modern-day pioneers would have it no other way. Because for all the hardships that they must endure, they know that the Grand Vision extends beyond them - that they are but a small...

NASA Says Thousands Could Lose Jobs After Shuttle Program Ends MIAMI (AP) -- More than 8,000 NASA contractor jobs in the nation's manned space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program is shut down in 2010, the agency said Tuesday. The number of civil servants is expected to remain roughly the same, but dramatic job cuts are possible among private contractors as NASA transitions to the Constellation program, which is developing the next-generation vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and later to Mars. -snip-

Former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday pledged his unwavering support to return America to the moon and send astronauts to Mars, promising that if he were elected president space would be a pillar of his administration. "A strong NASA and a revitalized space program will be a priority for a Giuliani Administration from day one," he told a group of about 35 space industry and local officials gathered at space policy round table organized by the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast. He then drove home his promise with a vow to close the gap between the retirement...

Experts are wrestling with a propulsion system problem in the design of the new moon ship that would create dangerously high vibrations for the spacecraft and its astronauts, NASA said today. In a statement, the space agency said it expects to develop several options to address the problem with the Ares I rocket by March. NASA is counting on the Ares I rocket and the Orion capsule that will house astronauts to replace the aging space shuttle fleet. The shuttle is facing retirement in 2010. At current funding levels, NASA hopes to begin launching astronauts to the international space station...

Despite funding uncertainty, NASA is on track to return humans to the moon by 2020 and set up a lunar outpost to serve as a springboard to explore Mars, officials said Monday. "Our job is to build towns on the moon and eventually put tire prints on Mars," NASA's Rick Gilbrech told reporters here, one year after the US space agency unveiled an ambitious plan to site a solar-powered, manned outpost on the south pole of the moon. "We have the International Space Station; we're going to have a lunar outpost, and someday, certainly, somebody will go to Mars," said...

Russia enters 'space race' to build moon base By Graeme Baker Last Updated: 5:57pm BST 31/08/2007 Russia has revived another Cold War rivalry by entering a new “space race” with America to build a permanent base on the Moon. The moon from Moscow's Novodevichy Monastery Anatoly Perminov, the head of the space agency Roskosmos, said Russia would organise a manned lunar mission by 2025 and would be ready to build an “inhabited station” between 2027 and 2032. From there, cosmonauts could strike out on a long-planned mission to Mars as early as 2035. “According to our estimates we will be...

Last week’s announcement of NASA’s plans to establish a permanently occupied lunar base was greeted with a familiar reaction in the media. There were the initial stories about the announcement itself, getting play on evening network newscasts and the front page of next day’s newspapers, and often relying on the same handful of pundits. Then there were the editorials, with some praising NASA for its bold plans and others criticizing it for its folly in sending humans to do a robot’s job. And, of course, there were follow-up articles asking just how much this would all cost. It was the...

Russia will join the U.S Moon exploration program if Washington provides the necessary funding, a Russian space representative said Tuesday. After U.S. President George W. Bush announced his Vision for Space Exploration in 2004, a plan for new manned lunar missions, the country's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) elaborated a program that envisions the construction of a manned lunar base, which will require broad international cooperation. "If the U.S. offers the necessary financing for Russia to participate in its national lunar program, Russia is likely to accept the proposal," said Igor Panarin, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency....

US plans for Moon base US space agency Nasa says it is planning to start work on a base on the Moon after astronauts begin flying back there in 2020. The maps and graphics below show how and where man could live on the Moon. Nasa scientists say the best approach is to develop a solar-powered moon base and to locate it near one of the poles of the moon - such as the Shackleton Crater near the South Pole. The poles offer moderate temperatures, high percentage of sunlight which means greater potential for solar power and more opportunities...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The name of the new vehicle that NASA hopes will take astronauts back to the moon was supposed to be hush-hush until next week. But apparently U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, floating 220 miles above Earth at the international space station, didn't get the memo. Williams, through no fault of his own, let it slip Tuesday that the new vehicle's name is Orion. "We've been calling it the crew exploration vehicle for several years, but today it has a name — Orion," Williams said, taping a message in advance for the space agency that was transmitted accidentally...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The name of the new vehicle that NASA hopes returns astronauts to the moon was supposed to be kept hush until an announcement scheduled for next week at the earliest. But apparently U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, floating 220 miles above Earth at the International Space Station, did not get the memo.

Old rocket science tied to today's at Marshall Thursday, August 10, 2006 KENT FAULK, News staff writer HUNTSVILLE - NASA engineers are going old-school with a new twist as they design rockets to take astronauts back to the moon and eventually give them a boost toward Mars. Marshall Space Flight Center engineers have enlisted the help of retired rocket scientists, dug through archives and taken parts off museum pieces as they look toward mixing Apollo and space shuttle technology with later innovations into the Ares I and Ares II rockets. "We're marrying the best of historical knowledge and understanding with...

Japan's space agency has provoked surprise among other space experts by re-affirming its ambition to build a habitable base on the Moon within decades. At a lunar exploration symposium in Tokyo this week, head of the country's lunar and planetary exploration programme Junichiro Kawaguchi announced a deadline of 2020 for sending astronauts to the Moon, and 2030 for constructing the base.

HOUSTON -- For the first time since 1972, the United States is planning to fly to the moon, but instead of a quick, Apollo-like visit, astronauts intend to build a permanent base and live there while they prepare what may be the most ambitious undertaking in history -- putting human beings on Mars. President Bush in 2004 announced to great fanfare plans to build a new spaceship, get back to the moon by 2020 and travel on to Mars after that. But, with NASA focused on designing a new spaceship and spending about 40 percent of its budget on the...

The Sunday Times March 19, 2006 Nasa to put man on far side of moon Jonathan Leake , Science Editor NASA, the American space agency, has unveiled plans for one of the largest rockets ever built to take a manned mission to the far side of the moon. It will ferry a mother ship and lunar lander into Earth orbit to link up with a smaller rocket carrying the crew. Once united they will head for the moon where the larger ship will remain in orbit after launching the lunar lander and crew. The design emerged during a space science...

Chandigarh: India's moon mission might be ready for take-off by 2008, according to renowned space scientist K Kasturirangan. "The 21st century is going to be an era of planetary explorations" and the country's moon mission may be ready by 2008, the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies at Bangalore and Rajya Sabha MP, formerly ISRO chairman, said. Asked if the ISRO was planning to send a manned mission to the moon, he said: "As far as I know, as of now, they have no such plans."

Before the end of the next decade, NASA astronauts will again explore the surface of the moon. And this time, we're going to stay, building outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys to Mars and beyond. There are echoes of the iconic images of the past, but it won't be your grandfather's moon shot.....

NASA faces a critical year in 2006 to launch its next exploration initiative — to return astronauts to the moon — even though a lunar landing is not expected before 2018. Agency managers are committed to planting the seeds of the new program and nurturing them as best they can in case political winds shift after upcoming Congressional and presidential elections. So far, the plan has garnered bipartisan political support, with Congress setting aside $3.2 billion for the exploration initiative in 2006.

The recent release of the details of NASA's proposed plans for human return to the moon in response to President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" last year has drawn much comment -- some positive, some negative and some simply perplexed. Although the reasons for undertaking the program were clearly articulated in the president's speech, it is important to reexamine why the moon is its cornerstone and what we hope to achieve by returning there. The moon is important for three reasons: science, inspiration and resources. All three are directly served by the new lunar return architecture. This program has the...

Imagine soaring over the surface of the Moon, dipping into a crater and seeing rock slides on its slopes and boulders piled up at the bottom. You don't have to wait for a spaceship or even the night sky to get such a close-up view of the Moon. You can visit it now with a PC and a broadband Internet connection, courtesy of a free public-access program developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in California. The Moon views - detailed and three-dimensional - are an extension of NASA's "World Wind" computer program that has allowed...

THE United States plans to send four astronauts to the Moon by 2018, as a first step toward an eventual mission to Mars, according to NASA documents published by a US newspaper. The plan also foresees crews building a lunar outpost, complete with living quarters and a power plant, and scavenge the desolate landscape for fuel and water aboard high-tech dune buggies, the Orlando Sentinel daily said. The space travellers would blast off on rockets derived from the space shuttle, but would parachute back to Earth in capsules similar to those used in the Apollo program that landed the first...

Opposite charges attract. Like charges repel. It's the first lesson of electromagnetism and, someday, it could save the lives of astronauts. NASA's Vision for Space Exploration calls for a return to the Moon as preparation for even longer journeys to Mars and beyond. But there's a potential showstopper: radiation. Space beyond low-Earth orbit is awash with intense radiation from the Sun and from deep galactic sources such as supernovas. Astronauts en route to the Moon and Mars are going to be exposed to this radiation, increasing their risk of getting cancer and other maladies. Finding a good shield is important.

Advanced humanoid robots could take over mining, telescope-building chores for humans. TOKYO -- Japan wants to help build a lunar base and populate it with advanced versions of today's humanoid robots by around 2025, according to the head of the nation's space agency. The idea is more than a pipe-dream; it is part of a 20-year plan, called JAXA Vision 2025, that was drawn up by Keiji Tachikawa, a former president of Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, who is now president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA). As part of the plan, Japan would use advanced robotic technologies to...

THE name Eugene Cernan means little to most people, though space nerds may remember it. Along with more famous astronauts such as Neil Armstrong, Mr Cernan played a role in the annals of space exploration by walking on the moon. And he was the last to do so, which is fame of a sort. If George Bush gets his way, however, this claim to fame may vanish. That is because Mr Bush has a vision. He wants humans to return to the moon by 2020. The questions are, first, what for? And, second, having been given such orders, what will...

President Bush has called upon NASA to implement a human lunar exploration program with the objective of both supporting operations on the Moon and developing the technologies to enable piloted Mars missions. The question is: how should this be done? Three central issues that need to be addressed are launch strategy, Lunar mission mode, and method of evolution from Moon to Mars exploration capabilities. With respect to the launch issue, the key question is whether or not we need a heavy lift vehicle (HLV). Currently, those opposed to such development have advanced an argument for a quadruple launch, quadruple rendezvous...

China and Japan launch race to the moon Tokyo blasts back after setback in Asian space race as old enemies plan ambitious projects targeting the lunar surface Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Jonathan Watts in Beijing Saturday March 5, 2005 The Guardian When a rocket carrying a weather satellite blasted into orbit last weekend it did more than restore confidence in Japan's battered space programme - it ignited talk of a space race with the country's old rival, China. Forty years after the heyday of the US-Soviet space race, the emerging contest between these two Asian powers is already showing...

Joining a swelling group of countries shooting for the moon, Japan is considering a plan to establish a manned lunar base by 2025, officials said yesterday. If approved, the mission would mark a major change of direction for Japan's space program, which has for decades focused on unmanned, scientific probes. It would also up the ante in an increasingly heated space race in Asia. Both China and India have announced moon missions, and US President George W. Bush has proclaimed that the US will return to the moon in the next decade or so and will try to send astronauts...

TOKYO - Japan plans to start building a manned base on the moon and a manned space shuttle within the next 20 years, a newspaper report said Monday. Japan's space agency, JAXA, is drawing up plans to develop a robot to conduct probes on the moon by 2015, then begin constructing a solar-powered manned research base on the planet and design a reusable manned space vessel like the U.S. space shuttle by 2025, the Mainichi Shimbun said. The space agency's budget could be boosted six-fold to $57 billion to assist those plans, the Mainichi said. The plans also include using...

Russia may have a base on the moon by 2025, predicted Nikolai Moiseyev, deputy chief of the Russian Space Agency for the International Space Station, at a NASA conference in Washington, D.C. ussia may have a base on the moon by 2025, according to a Russian space official, the Interfax news agency reported Monday. Nikolai Moiseyev, deputy chief of the Russian Space Agency for the International Space Station, made the prediction at a NASA Latest News about NASA conference in Washington, D.C. "Moiseyev told the conference that the task may be put forward in 2020-2025 to set up an automatic...

NEIL Armstrong's first footsteps on the moon in 1969 inspired universal wonder and excitement. In that moment, it seemed the unimaginable had become reality, and a course for an enterprise in space in which anything was possible was established. Today we know much more about the difficulties of space exploration by humans or machines, and our thinking about space has evolved with our growing awareness of its costs and hazards. Remarkably, those first footsteps continue to inspire. President Bush's remarks on the Columbia tragedy capture a widespread sentiment: "Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration...

Scientists are divided about the use of the Moon as a base to develop ways to travel to Mars, according to reports given to the US government. Some have said the possibility of water-ice existing at the lunar poles would allow a moonbase to use the ice as rocket fuel for a Mars mission. Others contend that it would be too difficult to extract. And there is disagreement about whether the moon is a good alternative to space as a base for advanced telescopes. In January, President Bush redirected the US space effort sending astronauts back to the Moon and...

I can't believe it. I guess now I'll have to vote for Bush in the upcoming elections...Not what I expected, but after reading this report where he evinces strong support for the space program, I've had to switch alliances. As many of you know, I'm a big fan of science fiction, but I don't want to live out my life just reading about space--I'd like to go there, and perhaps teach there! However, as usual, Bush is a bit muddled in his plans. Fans of Ben Bova or Bob Zubrin Mars Society Founder know that a moonbase is an unnecessary,...

<p>Moon base? Old news.</p> <p>In his hotly anticipated announcement Wednesday, President Bush ordered NASA scientists to plan for a manned "foothold on the moon." They might look through their old filing cabinets to start, because the U.S. government and its contractors have been planning lunar colonies since long before Neil Armstrong took his one giant leap for mankind in 1969.</p>

BEIJING — A spacecraft dubbed the Divine Vessel and its lone astronaut blasted off from a remote Gobi desert location early this morning, catapulting China into the elite club of nations that have sent a man into space. By sending a taikonaut — a term based on the Chinese word for space — into orbit, China joined the United States and the former Soviet Union, now succeeded by Russia, as the only countries to successfully launch a manned spaceflight. Those two countries achieved their feats four decades ago. If all goes well, Yang Liwei and his spacecraft, whose Chinese name...

Are the Chinese serious about human space flight? Most definitely. And they are interested in doing more than simply going to low Earth orbit. They are headed for the moon. For most of last year, the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry looked at our nation's position relative to our global competition. Clearly, the Europeans are determined to challenge our preeminence in commercial aviation, and the challenge to our leadership in space is coming from the Pacific Rim. The conclusion that the Chinese are engaged in an aggressive space program is my own, based upon the commission's...