. 24/7 Space News .
US Astronauts To Fly New Space Ship By 2014

File photo: A mock Crew Exploration Vehicle.
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jun 07, 2006
The space ship that will return astronauts to the Moon should be ready for tests in 2012 and for a manned flight in 2014, NASA announced Monday.

NASA plans to retire its aging shuttle fleet, which has gone through two tragic disasters, by 2010 and replace it with a Crew Exploration Vehicle to take astronauts back to the Moon by 2020.

"Our plan calls for first human flight of CEV in 2014, preceding that, is a flight test program that commences in 2012," said Jeff Hanley, director of Constellation, a program to prepare NASA for a return to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars.

"We are studying right now a developmental flight test where we could fly as early as April 2009 ... a first stage with a dummy upper stage, with a dummy CEV on top, to validate the concept," he said.

A final decision will be made later this year, he said.

"We are confident we can meet the goal of the vision to get human boots back on the Moon by 2020."

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said it is "way too early" to write a complete budget.

He stressed the need to find a way to return to the Moon that is "enormously cheaper than the shuttle."

The current shuttle fleet has taken parts to the International Space Station but has never been used as transport to the Moon.

NASA has assigned program tasks to 10 of its centers, from Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launching.

The Glenn Research Center in Ohio, despite recent staffing cuts, will be in charge of developing the vehicle.

The United States first landed on the moon in 1969 and most recently landed in 1972.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Related Links
-



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


SpaceX Achieves Key Milestone of Tenth Launch Agreement
El Segundo CA (SPX) Jun 01, 2006
SpaceX announced that the number of launches on manifest has now reached double digits. The ninth launch, already announced, is with MDA Corporation of Canada and will carry the Cassiope satellite on a Falcon 9 in mid 2008.







  • Griffin Welcomes Russian Help In Future Space Missions
  • Griffin Defends NASA Space Exploration Vision
  • Sudbury To Host Planetary And Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium
  • Voyager Data May Reveal Trajectory Of Solar System

  • Squyres Says Opportunity Good To Go
  • Spirit Sitting Pretty On A Martian Hillock
  • Opportunity Digging Out Of Dune One Klick From Victoria
  • NASA Awards Mars Science Lab Launch Contract

  • Sea Launch Prepares For Galaxy 16 Liftoff
  • SES Global Contracts Sea Launch For AMC-21 Satellite
  • Volvo Aero Components Powering Large Number Of Ariane 5 Launches
  • Heaviest Ariane 5 Payload Orbits Without A Hitch

  • First CloudSat Images Wowing Scientists
  • UAE To Monitor Construction Sites Via Satellite
  • Free as a Bird Or Under Surveillance
  • Turkey Signs Up For Asia-Pacific Space Program

  • New Horizons Crosses The Asteroid Belt
  • Trio Of Neptunes And Their Belt
  • New Model Could Explain Eccentric Triton Orbit
  • New Horizons Taking Exploration To Edge Of Sol

  • Andromeda Adrift In Sea Of Dust
  • Rock Carving Linked To 1,000-Year-Old Supernova Sighting
  • Astronomers Find Startling Absence Of Hot Gas In Galaxy NGC 1068
  • The Case Of The Neutron Star With A Wayward Wake

  • The Sky Is Falling
  • SMART-1 Captures Central Peaks Of Zucchius Crater
  • Lunar Highlands And Mare Landscapes
  • Scientist Dreams Of Us Revisiting The Moon

  • Lockheed Martin And EADS To Cooperate On Satellite Navigation Standards
  • QinetiQ Joins Galileo Development
  • Satelinx To Equip Seniors With Location Base Devices
  • LM And EADS Space To Team On NavSat Systems

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement