Spaceflight will mark an important milestone this year – when Nasacelebrates the 50th anniversary of US astronauts reaching the moon. In December 1968 Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders – on Apollo 8 – swept over the lunar surface and captured bright blue images of Earth rising above the grey plains of the moon. It was one of the most dramatic space missions ever flown. Manned landings followed, but after a few years, the US lost interest in lunar space flights.
But now Nasa has revealed plans to return to the Moon and has asked European scientists and industry leaders to join the agency in a bold plan aimed at rebooting humanity’s conquest of the solar system – in the form of an international manned station that will orbit the moon within the next decade.
The proposed station, the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway – known as Gateway – will allow astronauts to develop techniques that will open up the lunar surface to exploration and exploitation. At the same time, the station will help humans hone survival skills in deep space in preparation for future manned missions to Mars, says Nasa.
Taking part in the station’s construction would cost Europe more than £1bn and a decision on whether to become involved will be taken at a meeting of European science ministers next year. If ministers give the go-ahead, the European Space Agency (Esa) – of which Britain is a key member – would then join other international partners that Nasa is recruiting to its Gateway project. These include the space agencies of Russia, Canada and Japan.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
