NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
has made many concepts of
moonbase
A moonbase is a facility on the surface of the Moon, enabling human activity on the Moon. As such, it is different from a lunar space station in orbit around the Moon, like the planned Lunar Gateway of the Artemis program. Moonbases can be fo ...
s for achieving a
permanent presence of humans on the Moon. The American government agency requested an increase in the 2020 budget of $1.6 billion, in order to make
another crewed mission to the Moon by 2025 (originally 2024), followed by a sustained presence on the Moon by 2028.
History
The concept of establishing a
long-term human presence on the Moon by the United States can be traced back to the late 1950s and has been often revisited since then.
1958 Lunex Project
The Lunex Project, conceptualized in 1958, was a
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
plan for a crewed lunar landing prior to the
Apollo Program in 1961. It envisaged a 21-person underground
Air Force Base
An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...
on the Moon by 1968 at a total cost of $7.5 billion.
1959 Project Horizon
Project Horizon was a 1959 study regarding the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
's plan to establish a fort on the Moon by 1967.
Heinz-Hermann Koelle Heinz-Hermann Koelle (22 July 1925, in Danzig, Free City of Danzig – 20 February 2011, in Berlin, Germany) was an aeronautical engineer who made the preliminary designs on the rocket that would emerge as the Saturn I. Closely associated wi ...
, a German rocket engineer of the
Army Ballistic Missile Agency
The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the United States Army, U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John Bruce Meda ...
(ABMA) led the Project Horizon study. It was proposed that the first landing would be carried out by two "soldier-astronauts" in 1965 and that more construction workers would soon follow. It was posited that through numerous launches (61
Saturn I
The Saturn I was a rocket designed as the United States' first medium lift launch vehicle for up to low Earth orbit payloads.Terminology has changed since the 1960s; back then, 20,000 pounds was considered "heavy lift". The rocket's first stag ...
s and 88
Saturn C-2s), 245 tons of cargo could be transported to the outpost by 1966.
On 8 June 1959, the US Army's
Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) organized a task force called
Project Horizon
Project Horizon was a 1959 study to determine the feasibility of constructing a scientific / military base on the Moon, at a time when the U.S. Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, and Department of the Air Force had total responsibil ...
to assess the feasibility of constructing a
military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...
on the Moon.
Project Horizon proposed using a series of
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
[Please refer to ]Saturn (rocket family)
The Saturn family of American rockets was developed by a team of mostly German rocket engineers and scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. The Saturn family used liquid hydrogen as fuel in the ...
. launches to pre-construct an outpost while in Earth orbit, with the intention of subsequently delivering and landing the completed assembly on the Moon. Additional
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
launches each month would then ship supplies to the inhabitants.
1984 Johnson Space Center lunar outpost concept
In 1984, with the
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
in service, a team based at the
Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...
made a feasibility study for NASA's return to the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
. It anticipated later studies in using NASA's planned infrastructurethe Shuttle, a Shuttle-derived heavy lift vehicle, a space station, and an orbital transfer vehicleto build a permanent 18-crew Moon base sometime between 2005 and 2015.
Design details
The
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
was to have transported the empty 21,000-kilogram lunar lander and payload to the space station, where they would rendezvous with the 100 ton propellant module.
The first objective was the creation of small semipermanently manned "camp" on the lunar surface in 2005-2006.
NASA was to have launched a lunar orbiting space station in 2008-2009 to support the creation of a permanently manned moonbase by 2009-2010.
This operational surface base would have contained an expanded mining facility, lunar materials processing pilot plants and a lunar agriculture research laboratory; pilot oxygen production and experimental mining facilities would have been landed previously.
The lunar surface facility would have grown to an 18-crew "advanced base" in 2013-14, consisting of five habitation modules, a geochemical laboratory, chemical/biological lab, geochemical/petrology lab, a particle accelerator, a radio telescope, lunar oxygen, ceramics and metallurgy plants, two shops, three power units (90% lunar-materials derived), one earthmover/crane and three trailers/mobility units. The ultimate goal would be a self-sustaining moonbase by 2017-18.
The following were the names of vehicles or mission steps associated with the JSC Moon Base:
* Mapper and L-2 Relay Satellite. Development: 1992-1996. First launch: 1996.
* Surface Explorer Rover. Development: 1995-1999. First launch: 1999.
* Expendable Lander. Development: 1995-1999. First launch: 1999.
* Network and Regolith Science. Development: 2002-2004.
* Manned Capsule / OTV. Development: 1999-2003. First launch: 2003.
* Expendable Ascent Stage. Development: 1999-2003. First launch: 2003.
* Lunar Orbital Facilities. Development: 2004-2008. First launch: 2008-2009.
* Camp, temporary manned. Development: 2000-2004. First launch: 2005-2006.
* Base, permanent manned. Development: 2004-2009. First launch: 2009-2010.
* Advanced Base. Development: 2008-2013. First launch: 2013-2014.
* Self-Sustaining Base. Development: 2012-2016. First launch: 2017-2018.
1989 Space Exploration Initiative ''90-Day Study on Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars''
1992-1993 First Lunar Outpost
1993-1994 International Lunar Resources Exploration Concept
![Temporary Lunar Outpost](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Temporary_Lunar_Outpost.png)
The International Lunar Resources Exploration Concept (ILREC) was a proposed mission architecture under
President George H. W. Bush's Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) by Kent Joosten, an engineer at
Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...
. The plan would have used the help of international partners, mainly
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, to assemble a lunar base and sustainable lunar transportation service. The program was not able to get off the ground as it was proposed at the end of SEI's very short lifespan with the only surviving project being
Space Station Freedom
Space Station ''Freedom'' was a NASA project to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union address, ''Freedom'' wa ...
(now the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
)
2005 Exploration Systems Architecture Study
The ''Exploration Systems Architecture Study'' (''ESAS'') is the official title of a large-scale, system-level study released by NASA in November 2005 in response to American president
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's announcement on 14 January 2004 of his goal of returning
astronauts
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
to the Moon and eventually
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
— known as the
Vision for Space Exploration
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
(and unofficially as "Moon, Mars and Beyond" in some aerospace circles, though the specifics of a human "beyond" program remain vague).
2006 Reference Architecture
On 4 December 2006, NASA announced the conclusion of its Global Exploration Strategy and
Lunar Architecture Study. The Lunar Architecture Study's purpose was to "define a series of lunar missions constituting NASA's Lunar campaign to fulfill the Lunar Exploration elements" of the Vision for Space Exploration.
What resulted was a basic plan for a lunar outpost near one of the poles of the Moon, which would permanently house astronauts in six-month shifts. These studies were made before the discovery of
water ice Water ice could refer to:
* Ice formed by water (as opposed to other substances)
*The alternate term for various similar frozen fruit-flavoured desserts:
** Italian ice primarily in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley
**Sorbet
Sorbet (), also ...
(5.6 ± 2.9% by mass) in a polar crater,
which may substantially affect plans.
A reference architecture was established for this outpost, based on a location on the rim of the
Shackleton crater
Shackleton is an impact crater that lies at the lunar south pole. The peaks along the crater's rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight, while the interior is perpetually in shadow. The low-temperature interior of this crater functions as a ...
, located in the immense
South Pole-Aitken basin
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...
, near the Moon's south pole. At a presentation, on 4 December 2006, Doug Cooke, Deputy Associate Administrator, NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, described an area "that is ... sunlit ... 75 to 80 percent of the time, and it is adjacent to a permanently dark region in which there is potentially volatiles that we can extract and use. ... This sunlit area is about the size of the
Washington Mall
Washington Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located in South Strabane Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, just outside the city of Washington, formerly managed by J J Gumberg Co. and now by Oxford Development Company. It is owned by ...
." (approximately 1.25 km²). The Indian
Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-1 (, ) was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan program. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impact ...
orbiter (2008–2009) helped in the determination of the precise location of the outpost.
Other locations considered for possible lunar outposts included the rim of
Peary crater near the lunar north pole and the Malapert Mountain region on the rim of
Malapert crater.
The outpost design included:
* Habitation modules
*
Solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
units
*
Unpressurized rovers
*
In-Situ Resource Utilization
In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that ...
(ISRU) unit
* Surface mobility carrier
The outpost would have been supplied by a mixed crew and cargo
Altair
Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql or ...
lander, capable of bringing four astronauts and a payload of six tons to the Moon's surface.
As planned, an incremental buildup would begin with four-person crews making several seven-day visits to the moon until their power supplies, rovers and living quarters were operational. The first mission was envisioned for 2020. This would be followed by 180-day missions to prepare for journeys to
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
.
Later development
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's
Vision for Space Exploration
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
was eventually replaced with President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
's
space policy
Space policy is the political decision-making process for, and application of, public policy of a state (or association of states) regarding spaceflight and uses of outer space, both for civilian (scientific and commercial) and military purposes. I ...
.
Updated plans envisioned
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
to construct an outpost over the five years between 2019 and 2024. The
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
directed that the U.S. portion, "shall be designated the
Neil A. Armstrong Lunar Outpost".
2008 Concepts Study
On 6 June 2008, NASA announced a set of six research opportunities and requested proposals for research funding in response to the announcement. The overall budget for research conducted as part of this "Lunar Surface Systems Concepts Study" was believed to be $2 million. Proposals were selected and contracts awarded in August 2008 by the NASA Constellation Lunar Surface Systems Project Office (LSSPO).
2010/2011 surface system concept review
The LSSPO was established at the
Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...
in August 2007. The LSSPO was studying lunar surface systems such as "habitation systems",
ISRU
In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that ...
,
rovers, power production and storage, systems to meet science and exploration objectives and safety systems. The LSSPO was expected to conduct a surface system concept review in the 2010 or 2011 timeframe.
2017/Present: Artemis program
The Artemis program is a planned
crewed spaceflight program carried out predominately by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, U.S.
commercial spaceflight companies, and international partners such as the
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
(ESA),
JAXA
The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...
, and the
Canadian Space Agency
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''.
The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 2020 ...
(CSA) with the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the Moon, specifically at the
lunar south pole
The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon, at 90°S. It is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that ar ...
region by 2024. NASA sees Artemis as the next step towards the long-term goal of establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon, laying the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy, and eventually sending humans to
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
. One primary target is
Shackleton crater
Shackleton is an impact crater that lies at the lunar south pole. The peaks along the crater's rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight, while the interior is perpetually in shadow. The low-temperature interior of this crater functions as a ...
. In 2028 NASA plans on launching the ''Lunar Surface Asset'', a small habitat to the surface of the Moon on either an
SLS Block 1B
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...
or through an
Artemis Support Mission on a commercial launcher. This would be the first crewed lunar base.
Justification
In the words of former
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Administrator,
Michael D. Griffin
Michael Douglas Griffin (born November 1, 1949) is an American physicist and aerospace engineer who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering from 2018 to 2020. He previously served as Deputy of Technology for the Str ...
,
Lunar Gateway
A station in
lunar orbit
In astronomy, lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is the orbit of an object around the Moon.
As used in the space program, this refers not to the orbit of the Moon about the Earth, but to orbits by spacecraft around the Moon. The ...
can serve as a communications hub, temporary habitation module, and holding area for rovers and other robots intended for an outpost on lunar ground.
NASA leads a proposal for such a station, titled Lunar Gateway. The omnibus spending bill passed by
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
in March 2018 provided NASA with $504 million for preliminary studies during the 2019 fiscal year. The final funding amount enacted by Congress was slightly lower at $450 million.
Criticism
Criticisms come from groups that want the human exploration money diverted to Mars, from those who prefer uncrewed exploration, and from those who simply want the money spent elsewhere. The criticisms listed here mostly predate the discovery of significant amounts of polar water ice.
Jeff Foust
Jeff Foust is an aerospace analyst, journalist and publisher. A senior aerospace analyst with the Futron Corporation in Bethesda, Maryland, he is the editor and publisher of ''The Space Review'' and has written for ''Astronomy Now'' and '' The New ...
, writing for ''The Space Review'', called the six themes that NASA released too "broad" and the explanations supporting them "shallow." He also argues that a Moonbase is a poor use of resources, since "science can be done for far less money by
robotic missions—which also don't put human lives at risk." The ''Los Angeles Times'' seconded that in an editorial, saying "Manned moon flight may appeal to
baby boomer
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. T ...
s, but it makes little scientific sense for most space missions these days. Robots can now perform or be developed to perform, most of the tasks people would do at a moon station."
Columnist
Gregg Easterbrook, who has reported on the space program for decades, has criticized the plans as a poor use of resources. He writes that
Although, of course, the base could yield a great discovery, its scientific value is likely to be small while its price is extremely high. Worse, moon-base nonsense may for decades divert NASA resources from the agency's legitimate missions, draining funding from real needs in order to construct human history's silliest white elephant
A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, sch ...
.[Gregg Easterbrook.]
Moon Baseless: NASA can't explain why we need a lunar colony
. ''Slate''. Dec. 8, 2006.
According to Easterbrook, the billions of dollars that a lunar colony might cost should instead be devoted to exploring the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
with
space probe
A space probe is an artificial satellite that travels through space to collect scientific data. A space probe may orbit Earth; approach the Moon; travel through interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land or fly on other planetary bodies; or ent ...
s;
space observatories
A space telescope or space observatory is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO-2 launched ...
; and protecting the Earth from
near-Earth asteroid
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...
s.
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
, the second of twelve men to have walked on the Moon, disagrees with NASA's current goals and priorities, including their plans for a lunar outpost. While not necessarily opposed to sending people back to the Moon, Aldrin argues that NASA should concentrate on a
human mission to Mars
The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Some have also considered exploring the Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos. ...
and leave further lunar exploration and the establishment of a base there to a consortium of other countries under U.S. leadership.
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
and David Noland.
Buzz Aldrin to NASA: U.S. Space Policy Is on the Wrong Track
." ''Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'' August 2009. In a July 2009 editorial in the ''Washington Post'', he said that NASA's
Vision for Space Exploration
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
"is not visionary; nor will it ultimately be successful in restoring American space leadership. Like its Apollo predecessor, this plan will prove to be a dead-end littered with broken spacecraft, broken dreams, and broken policies." He continued by saying that:
the lunar surface ... is a poor location for homesteading. The moon is a lifeless, barren world, its stark desolation matched by its hostility to all living things. And replaying the glory days of Apollo will not advance the cause of American space leadership or inspire the support and enthusiasm of the public and the next generation of space explorers.Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
.
Time to Boldly Go Once More
''Washington Post''. July 16, 2009.
See also
*
Lunar Architecture (NASA)
*
Exploration Systems Architecture Study
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) is the official title of a large-scale, system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in November 2005 of his goal of returning astronauts to the Moon and ...
*
Project Constellation
The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a ...
*
Artemis program
The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration ...
*
Vision for Space Exploration
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
*
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions t ...
*
Colonization of the Moon
Colonization of the Moon or Lunar settlement is a process, or concept employed by some proposals, for claiming robotic or human exploitation and settlement on the Moon.
Laying claim to the Moon has been declared illegal through international ...
References
External links
*
Lunar outpost trailer (NASA)(.MOV)
lunar architecture* OpenLuna Foundatio
OpenLuna.org outpost planning page
{{Use American English, date=January 2014
Exploration of the Moon
Human spaceflight
NASA