WORLD / America |
NASA to set up polar moon camp(AP)Updated: 2006-12-05 09:09 WASHINGTON - NASA may be going to the same old moon with a ship that looks a lot like a 1960s Apollo capsule, but the space agency said Monday that it's going to do something dramatically different this time: Stay there.
It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010. NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the middle area of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer-term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey. The more likely of the two lunar destinations is the moon's south pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time. That offers a better locale for solar power, plus the site has possible resources to mine nearby, said associate deputy administrator Doug Cooke. "This is not your father's Apollo," said John Logsdon, director of the Space
Policy Institute at George Washington University. "I think it's the only way to
sustain something like this over decades. This is not a flag-and-footprints.
This is the idea of starting an outward movement that includes long stays on the
moon."
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