Return to the Moon
En Español
Flames burn under your rocket as you blast off. The engines roar. You're on your way to the moon.
A few days later, your rocket is running out of fuel. You have to land soon. Or crash! You see a spot to land. You steer toward it. As you touch down, your heart races. You're on the moon!
A Bold Plan
This may sound like a video game. But it happened. Between 1969 and 1972, NASA successfully sent 12 people to the surface of the moon. Now NASA wants to go back. It calls its bold plan the Constellation Program.
The first phase, or part, of the plan is to get to the moon and back by 2020. By studying the moon, we may understand our planet better. The moon may have formed from material that was once part of Earth. Astronauts may also find minerals or gases that could be used as rocket fuel.
Part two is to build a space base on the moon. Astronauts can stay in the base for months. That will give them more time to explore.
Part three is the boldest part: to use the moon base to go to Mars—and even beyond!
Phase 1 - Blastoff Times Two
NASA is already working on the first part of the plan. It uses two spacecraft for the trip to the moon. They are Altair and Orion.
First, a rocket blasts Altair to space. Altair carries only equipment. It orbits Earth until it meets with Orion.
Next, a rocket blasts off Orion. Four brave astronauts travel inside. Orion links up with Altair. Then they both blast off to the moon. When they get near, they orbit it. That's when the astronauts move from Orion into Altair.
Altair takes the astronauts and the equipment down to the moon. The astronauts explore the moon for a week. Then Altair carries them back to Orion. Orion then takes them back to Earth. Altair stays in space.
One of the most dangerous parts comes next. Orion enters Earth's atmosphere. Friction between the spacecraft and the air produces a lot of heat. The temperature may rise to 2,600° Celsius (4,800° Fahrenheit). NASA is building special shields to protect the astronauts.
Phase 2 - Life on the Moon
In phase two, astronauts build a space base on the moon. Other astronauts could live and work there. It's like building a town that's 385,000 kilometers (239,000 miles) away from Earth!
NASA has some ideas about how to do it. Unmanned rockets could carry large pieces of the base to the moon. These pieces are called modules. Each module would be like a RV camper. The base would be like a whole town of RV campers.
The moon gets lots of sunshine. So solar panels would make free energy. To get around, astronauts would drive a lunar rover. It would be airtight. The astronauts could take off their space suits while inside.
Phase 3 - From the Moon to Mars
The third phase is really big. NASA will use the moon to send rockets to Mars and beyond. This makes sense. Gravity on the moon is much weaker than it is on Earth. That means rockets can lift off more easily from the moon.
NASA's bold plan will not happen right away. There will be many challenges. But NASA has one big thing on its side: people's drive to
solve problems and explore.
Article by Dottie Raymer. Top-of-page photograph from NASA. "Return to the Moon" appears on page 2 of the May 2009 issue.
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