Back to the moon by Zuzana Zelenakova

The US space agency NASA has been planning the return to the moon for quite some time. The year set for the mission should be 2020, it is partly because of plans missions to other parts of our solar system, as states NASA´s spokeswoman Lynette Madison. "What we envision is having a ... sustained U.S. presence on the moon ... being able to live off the land, to get oxygen for lunar regulators," said John Olson, a manager in NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. "We will explore to see if there's water, ice at the poles. We can use the sunlight to power our systems." The moon should become a base for voyages to other parts of our solar system. The program at f! irst set aside as too expensive got a positive reaction Tuesday on Capitol Hill. However, it will need funding of $3 billion a year. The plan was described as “fatally flawed” by Norman Augustine, head of the panel of experts appointed by the Obama administration given the current financial resources available. But many congressmen, from both parties, and even a wife of an astronaut stood for it. "I don't see the logic in scrapping what the nation has spent years and billions of dollars to develop," said House Space Subcommittee chair Gabrielle Giffords, astronaut Mark Kelly´s wife. According to the space agency´s reports it has already invested about $8 billion into the program and has yet to spend at least $100 billion by 2020. The return-to-the-moon project proposed by ex-president George W. Bush involves building two new rockets. The smaller one called Ares I for carrying people and the larger one Ares V for equipment. However, according to the com! mission led by Augustine building of the smaller rocket is not! necessa ry because Ares V could carry both people and equipment. Now the decision is in the hands of the Obama administration after they evaluate the commission´s report.

related story (sgx15384): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_sc/us_sci_nasa_moo...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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