NASA May Unveil New Manned Moon Missions Soon

I thought many people would like this news. The article also talks about plans to take Americans to Mars and a plan to land on an asteroid.

Snip:

ASA is serious about sending astronauts back to the moon's neighborhood and will likely unveil its ambitious plans soon now that President Barack Obama has been re-elected, experts say.

The space agency has apparently been thinking about setting up a manned outpost beyond the moon's far side, both to establish a human presence in deep space and to build momentum toward a planned visit to an asteroid in 2025.

The new plans have probably already been cleared with the Obama Administration but have been kept under wraps in case Republican candidate Mitt Romney won Tuesday night's (Nov. 6) presidential election, said space policy expert John Logsdon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University.

www.space.com...

I'm sure NASA is serious about having manned missions to the moon. Only one problem.....Barrack Obama was just re-elected. Wasn't he the one who cut NASA's budget to near nothing during his first year in office?....Yes

I'd love to see manned missions to the moon, but I'm not holding my breath that it will happen during the next 4 years.

I won't be holding my breath for this.

It still leaves me stunned that it's been over forty years since we put the first men on the moon, and no one has been back since the last mission.

There are dozens of nations able and wealthy enough to put more people on the moon and yet we keep dipping our proverbial toes into nothing but Earth orbit.

There are many unanswered questions about the lack of development. Why it is that no one nation has ever bothered to get back to the moon, or further.

I doubt it's just money or politics.... I do suspect other reasons.

Originally posted by KnightFire
I'm sure NASA is serious about having manned missions to the moon. Only one problem.....Barrack Obama was just re-elected. Wasn't he the one who cut NASA's budget to near nothing during his first year in office?....Yes

I'd love to see manned missions to the moon, but I'm not holding my breath that it will happen during the next 4 years.

edit on 7-11-2012 by KnightFire because: (no reason given)

I would love to see missions to the moon. There was a lot of interest in the moon and then budgets were slashed. I hadn't heard that interest had peaked again. Very cool. I have a good friend who is an engineer at NASA. His area of specialty is the ISS but I'll ask him about any scuttle about the moon.

Cheers!

We need to go to the moon, mars and other planets in our solar system.. At the height of the cold war our space program allowed us to realize we are more than the sum of our parts. To me, when we leave the planet, it allows people around the world to realize we are all in the same boat, and our differences are actually nothing when compared to whats out there.

Giving us something bigger to focus attention on, imo, is what got us through the cold war. The space program has always been, until recently, a source of national pride and an envy of other countries. I would rather see NASA / Private companies with access to a budget the size of the DoD than spend it trying to nationa build in countries who are destined to live in the stone age and kill each other over religion / resources / land.

I say warp factor 9 and dont look back.

Originally posted by Cosmic911

Originally posted by KnightFire
I'm sure NASA is serious about having manned missions to the moon. Only one problem.....Barrack Obama was just re-elected. Wasn't he the one who cut NASA's budget to near nothing during his first year in office?....Yes

I'd love to see manned missions to the moon, but I'm not holding my breath that it will happen during the next 4 years.

edit on 7-11-2012 by KnightFire because: (no reason given)

I would love to see missions to the moon. There was a lot of interest in the moon and then budgets were slashed. I hadn't heard that interest had peaked again. Very cool. I have a good friend who is an engineer at NASA. His area of specialty is the ISS but I'll ask him about any scuttle about the moon.

Cheers!

I would be very interested in what he has to say. Like I said, I would love for moon missions to start up. I think there is a lot we can learn from the moon and of course see if they really did land there in 1969.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but the article doesn't state the astronauts will be landing on the moons surface, but will be 'parking' near by on the far side.

I wonder if you could boost the current space station from LEO to a new location.

reply to post by GrantedBail


Nice Post..

The moon mission was being talked about a while ago...Is this the same outpost they were talking about building?
link below..

NASA is pressing forward on assessing the value of a "human-tended waypoint" near the far side of the moon — one that would embrace international partnerships as well as commercial and academic participation, SPACE.com has learned.

LINK

Either way there is a bit more to the story now..and glad to see it revisited

SnF

Great news.

The NASA budget has declined but not by enormous amounts. Its been less than 1% of the federal budget for decades. Its declined marginally under Obama down from 0.7% under bush to 0.48% last year and projected for the next term.

Consistency of direction and coherence of purpose are more important for Nasa than anything else. Anything that does not involve another period of introspection, study panels and re-organisation is a win.

Besides, just on the other side of the moon doesnt do it justice. the L2 is much much further than that.

reply to post by dampnickers

Why it is that no one nation has ever bothered to get back to the moon, or further.

Easy: Cost vs Benefit.

Look at the ISS: Did we really gain much from it? Maybe experience but that's about it.

The Moon is magnitudes more expensive. And for what? Rocks?

I really wish a group of wealthy individuals from around the world would form a space exploration program. Can you imagine the toes that would be stepped on - talk about regulated to death.

What a waste of money. Such a shame NASA is going down this route of space-travel fantasies. For the amount it would cost to fund this, 50 Curiosity rovers give or take can be placed on the moon, and the return on investment would be far greater than a bunch of feeble humans who jump around, plant a flag, collect some moon rocks, and come back to Earth.

There may have been a need for this back in the days of the Apollo 11 since robotics was quite primitive, but there is no such need for it today. Unmanned space exploration will lead the way of future space science.

Problem is no longer have the lift capacity to land men on moon

The Saturn V had a launch capability of 105,000 lbs into lunar trajectory

The planned Falcon heavy lift vehicle will capability of 35,000 lbs , only 1/3 that of a Saturn V

Falcon heavy lift is schedule to make test in 2013

Originally posted by GrantedBail
I thought many people would like this news. The article also talks about plans to take Americans to Mars and a plan to land on an asteroid.

Snip:

ASA is serious about sending astronauts back to the moon's neighborhood and will likely unveil its ambitious plans soon now that President Barack Obama has been re-elected, experts say.

The space agency has apparently been thinking about setting up a manned outpost beyond the moon's far side, both to establish a human presence in deep space and to build momentum toward a planned visit to an asteroid in 2025.

The new plans have probably already been cleared with the Obama Administration but have been kept under wraps in case Republican candidate Mitt Romney won Tuesday night's (Nov. 6) presidential election, said space policy expert John Logsdon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University.

www.space.com...

To quote Tychus Findlay from SCII
"Hell, its about time."