NASA to revisit moon by 2018

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Washington, Sept 20: Unveiling a $104 billion plan, American space agency NASA has announced that it will return astronauts to moon aboard a new and safer craft by 2018, fortysix years after the last manned lunar mission. Describing the new vehicle as ‘Apollo on Steroids,” NASA administrator Michael Griffin said it will be more powerful than early moon landers. It will cost $104 billion over the next decade to send astronauts back to the moon, Griffin said at a press conference at the NASA headquarters here. He said that NASA will design a new rocket based on the technology from its ageing shuttles that are to be retired in 2010. The new rocket could be orbiting in space by 2012. The last manned mission to the moon was the Apollo 17 rocket in 1972.

Defending the price tag of $104 billion, Mr Griffin said the US can afford the investment despite the losses incurred due to disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. “There will be a lot more hurricanes and a lot more other natural disasters to befall the United States and the world in that time, I hope none worse than Katrina,” he 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.”