Back to the Moon
Written by Fraser Cain
Constellation Program. Image Credit: NASA
The last human to ever set foot on the surface of the Moon was Eugene Cernan, during the Apollo 17 mission. He climbed the ladder back up to the lunar module on December 14, 1972. It's been almost 40 years since humans walked on the Moon. When are we ever going to go back to the Moon?
In 2003, US President Bush declared that NASA would set itself a new goal of going back to the Moon. If all goes well, NASA's new Constellation program would have the first humans land on the Moon before 2020.
In order to make a return to the Moon a reality, NASA has to complete construction of the International Space Station and retire the aging space shuttle fleet by 2010. They're also developing a new fleet of rockets and capsules to launch humans and cargo into space. The new capsule – which looks a lot like the Apollo capsule – is called Orion. The new rocket that will carry astronauts into space is called Ares 1, and the larger cargo launcher is called Ares V.
The whole program is called Constellation. The current schedule for Constellation has astronauts going to the Moon in June, 2019. It will be the first humans to set foot on the surface of the Moon since 1972, when Gene Cernan was the last person on the Moon. 3 additional moon landings are also planned for the Constellation program, with the 4th landing schedule for May, 2021.
NASA has explained that it plans to eventually build a more permanent base on the Moon, and have it permanently staffed like the International Space Station. And this whole program will be used as a learning process for human astronauts to make the much more complicated and dangerous human mission to Mars.
At the time of this writing, it certainly looks like we're going back to the Moon. And this time, hopefully, we'll stay.
We have written many articles for Universe Today about the Constellation Program, the Ares rockets and the Orion crew capsule.
Of course, you should also check out NASA's official website for the Constellation Program.
You can listen to a very interesting podcast about the formation of the Moon from Astronomy Cast, Episode 17: Where Did the Moon Come From?
Filed under: Astronomy
