Returning To The Moon (Time)

[eppur_se_muova]

Returning To The Moon
Three decades after the last Apollo flew, new American crews may walk the lunar soil. Here's how they'll go
By JEFFREY KLUGER

Posted Sunday, Mar. 12, 2006
***
n January 2004 President Bush announced his plan to send Americans back to the moon and onto Mars. Those bold goals—which NASA estimates it could achieve by 2018 and 2030, respectively—would at last free the nation of the 25-year drudgery of the shuttle program. The idea raised eyebrows--not least because of its price tag, distant target dates and suspicious initial timing, at the start of the 2004 election cycle. In the two years since, however, funding has been forthcoming and design work has begun, with aerodynamic testing on scale models under way at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. While political and fiscal obstacles could still scuttle the whole plan, the ships taking shape in the NASA labs are winning deserved raves.

The thing that has made the shuttles such lethal disappointments is that they have tried to do too many things--fly like a spacecraft, land like an airplane, haul cargo like a truck. Part of the reason the Apollo ships succeeded was that they had an exceedingly clear goal: to fly to the moon and strictly obey the laws of simplicity and safety on the way. Both ships were also wisely mounted at the top of the booster that lifted them off the ground--keeping them away from the fire and foam that killed Challenger and Columbia.

The new ships will follow the old rules. The centerpiece of the stack will be the prosaically named Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), a descendant of the Apollo command module but for a few significant differences. For one thing, it will be bigger, able to carry four astronauts comfortably and six a bit more snugly--twice the load of the three-man Apollos.
***
One selling point of the CEV is its versatility. If the spacecraft is ready by its 2011 starting point and the moon trips indeed don't start until 2018, that means seven years of downtime. Astronauts could fill part of that gap flying shakedown trips to the International Space Station. After the U.S.'s moon presence is re-established, the CEV could become a central player in eventual Mars missions. "The spacecraft would have to evolve for the different demands of a Mars flight, particularly the higher re-entry speed," admits Horowitz. The basic design, however, would remain the same.
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more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1172223-1,00.html

[Hardrada]

1. Either Bush goes to Mars

or I go!

[C_U_L8R]

2. Just tell him there's oil there

he and all his cronies will be invading Mars in a heartbeat

[grytpype]

3. Why are we doing this?

Can anyone tell me? Can we afford this?