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Space & Astronomy

NASA and ESA to send humans to the Moon

By T.K. Randall
February 9, 2017 · Comment icon 5 comments

Humans could seen be returning to the Moon. Image Credit: NASA
A new joint mission will see astronauts orbiting the Moon for the first time in over four decades.
The ambitious endeavour, which could go ahead as early as 2021, will see NASA's new Orion spacecraft embarking on three progressively elongated orbits to reach the Moon.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and aerospace firm Airbus, which have already supplied a propulsion and supply module for an upcoming unmanned flight, have confirmed that they will be supplying key components for the manned mission as well.

If all goes well it will be the first time humans have left low-Earth orbit since 1972.

"We are excited to be a part of this historic mission and appreciate NASA's trust in us to help extend humanity's exploration farther afield into our Solar System," said ESA's Dave Parker.

Source: Toronto Star | Comments (5)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by paperdyer 8 years ago
Great news, but why only orbit?  Why not land?  Either way there will probably be skeptics.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Lucas Cooper Merrin 8 years ago
Hardly an ambitious endeavour! They were playing golf on the moon back in '71
Comment icon #3 Posted by Merc14 8 years ago
As of now NASA has no plans to return humans to the Moon, this flight is simply a test of both the SLS and the Orion capsule and a maybe a dress rehearsal for the Asteroid Redirect mission scheduled to take place a couple of years after this mission.   The next solar body NASA wants to put humans on is Mars and that lander would be a very different design than what is needed to land on the Moon (Mars has an atmosphere and higher gravity, longer duration mission) so the Moon wouldn't even be a good practice run for a Mars landing  (no landing mission is planned at this time AFAIK but a p... [More]
Comment icon #4 Posted by Derek Willis 8 years ago
It will be great if a few of the Apollo astronauts are still around!   
Comment icon #5 Posted by highdesert50 8 years ago
Nearing a half century since we visited the moon. While the current genre of robotic explorers is enviable, every fifty years or so we should be reminded that humans are still adventurers.


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