The United States will send four astronauts to the moon in 2018 in a return to its pioneering manned mission into space, Nasa administrator Michael Griffin announced on Monday.
Nasa is to design a new rocket based on the technology from its ageing shuttles that are to be retired in 2010, Griffin said. The new rocket could be orbiting in space by 2014.
The last manned mission to the moon was the Apollo 17 rocket in 1972. But the new mission will enable preparations to set up a permanent base on the moon, Griffin said.
The Nasa chief estimated the cost of the moon programme at $104-billion.
Griffin said he is not seeking extra money and stressed that the space agency will live within its future budgets to achieve this goal.
He dismissed suggestions that reconstruction of the United States Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina might derail the program first outlined by President George Bush in 2004.
”We’re talking about returning to the moon in 2018. There will be a lot more hurricanes and a lot more other natural disasters to befall the US and the world in that time, I hope none worse than Katrina,” Griffin said.
”But the space programme is a long-term investment in our future.
”We must deal with our short-term problems while not sacrificing our long-term investments in our future. When we have a hurricane, we don’t cancel the air force. We don’t cancel the navy. And we’re not going to cancel Nasa.”
He said the new rocket will be ”very Apollo-like, with updated technology. Think of it as Apollo on steroids.” — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP